


Question Mark

by 5c4r13tt



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, No Strings Attached, One Night Stands, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 11:02:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15141668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5c4r13tt/pseuds/5c4r13tt
Summary: Therese Belivet is heading into the New Year fresh off a break up. She wants a fresh start for a New Year. And when drunk on wine she confides to her best friend, Genevieve, that she hasn't had the best luck in bed. Always one to help, Gen suggests a friend to rock her world.Therese really didn't know what she was letting herself in for.





	1. New Year

“Gen… I did it.” Therese sighed down the phone rubbing the bridge of her nose, looking at the wine bottle that sat on her bedside table that was nearing empty.

“You did?! Therese I’m so proud of you, it’s a New Year and a New you! One minute – It’s Therese. No she just broke up with Richard… Yes, I’m serious Alicia… And I know it’s about godamn time – Ok I’m back.”

“Jesus Christ Gen, I don’t think I’ve gone through such a dry spell in my life. I mean, people always talk about sex as some miraculous thing. That is meant to blow your mind and body so far out of the ball park that you do it in dangerous places and risk having kids over it. I speak over 5 languages, travelled so many countries but none of it matters, I have never… God I can’t believe I’m going to say this.” Therese sighed, regretting the amount of wine she had drank.

“Say what?!” Gen prodded wanting the juicy gossip.

“I haven’t had an orgasm by having sex with someone…” She reached for her wine bottle as Gen screeched down the phone.

“You’ve never had an orgasm?!” Therese could hear Alicia in the back ground and she nearly choked on her wine.

“No I’ve had one, just never during sex, but I don’t think masturbation counts in this instance.”

“Well you know I can fix that in a heartbeat Therese.” Gen said suggestively, in that voice which Therese knew Gen wiggled her eyebrows to.

“You have a girlfriend Gen!” She had wine goggles.

“No not me you idiot! Although you’re closer than I thought you would be. How would you feel about sleeping with one of my friends?” Therese opened her mouth to protest but Gen cut in. “Don’t say no just yet just hear me out… It would be good meaningless sex where the only objective is to get a decent orgasm and fun night. It’s a win-win!”

“And you know someone who would just want a fuck buddy who has never had an orgasm in bed before?”

“Well you don’t have to tell them _that_ and anyway, you’re hot Therese anyone would be lucky to fuck you casually.” Gen said sincerely, although the context was a little odd.

Therese was about to agree but the sober part of her posed one more question before giving into the wine. “What’s the catch?”

“Well… She’s a woman-“

“Good one Gen, I mean I like girls as people but… I don’t think I could sleep with one.”

“Oh c’mon Therese! Take it from someone who knows, girls fuck way better than guys, they are rough and soft when you want them to be, they are content on going down on you without a complaint in the world, they have _boobs_ and they haven’t any stubble to scratch you like shards of glass. Plus if you had ever touched someone else’s vagina you would know that girls are kind of 100% addictive.”

Therese scoffed. “You really know how to sell lesbianism, Gen.”

“Oh, c’mon. You’re still young, there’s still time to experiment, plus what could be the harm? A hot woman just happy to give you a mind shattering orgasm.” _That does sound rather good – Wait what?!_

“What if she can’t?” Therese said trying to think of all the ways this could go wrong.

“Oh, no… she will be able to trust me. The woman I’m thinking of, she was with Abby, Alicia’s ex-girlfriend, once or twice.” Gen said with conviction.

Therese cringed. “Ewh, I don’t want to sleep with someone that used to sleep with your girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend.” She said writhing under her sheets at the thought.

She heard Gen and Alicia laugh down the other end of the line. “Therese, in the lesbian community, everyone has slept with everyone. Get over it. So what do you say?”

“I don’t know Gen.” Therese mused, she had never slept with a woman before, although she had never really thought about doing so.

“For once, think with your pussy Therese. Do it for her!” Gen begged. Therese was thankful that they were best friends, and hoped the FBI weren’t listening in on this conversation, otherwise that would be added to her file immediately.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this… fine.” She caved, she couldn’t see the harm in it. It had been a long time and with more wine running through her veins than blood she couldn’t see any repercussion from it.

“Yes! Now go to bed, and just dream of your world getting rocked. It will be a reality soon.” Gen said, Therese could practically hear her grinning down the phone.

“Night Gen.” The brunette yawned before passing out, not even ending the call.

“Night Terry!”

///

Therese woke up the next morning, quite thankful that she owned her own Studio and Gallery so could just ring in for an off day without having to face a boss, although she knew she would scold herself the next day for making such a huge work load. Running a successful gallery and studio that was expanding to as many countries as Therese could speak the language was a tough weight to carry on ones shoulders.

She wondered why she had woken so early when she saw her phone lighting up as it rang out into the air, vibrating on her bedside table. She ended the call silencing it, thanking God for the peace and quiet so she could fall asleep once more to the sounds of the streets of New York, but it began to ring again.

She picked up without looking. “Belivet, speaking.” She said rather grouchily.

“Good news Therese, she is down and in need of a good lay. I gave her your address and she will be round later tonight. It’s alright you can thank me at any time. Just call me cupid.”

“Gen… what the fuck are you on about?” The brunette said stifling a yawn.

Gen didn’t know if Therese was messing with her or not. “Carol?”

 _Carol? That’s a nice name… I mean who on earth is Carol? Why is she laying me? Why… What?_ “Who on earth is Carol?”

“The hot ass woman that’s going to fuck your brains out tonight, that’s who.” Gen said confidently ignoring the odd looks in the elevator she was stood in. She was unabashedly bold and didn’t give a rat’s ass, which is what made her and Alicia such a good pair. An annoying but happy pair.

“WHAT?!”

“What?” She asked confused.

Therese shot up in her bed, her brain not following at quite the same speed giving her an enormous headache. “You’ve asked a woman to come and fuck me? Why would you do that?!” She asked wiping the sleep out of her eyes so she could try and pry them open.

“You asked me to!” Gen said defensively. “And now she’s coming over, tonight at 9pm.”

Therese couldn’t believe her misfortune. She knew she’d had a drink too many last night but she had done so before and never agreed to have sex with a woman. “She is?”

“Yep, so are you ready or are you ready?” Gen said exiting the elevator, missing the sigh of those listening intently to her juicy conversation.

“No I am not fucking ready Gen! I am hungover, and smelly and a mess. My room stinks of photo chemicals. My apartment is a tip. Oh and on top of all that… I HAVE NEVER SLEPT WITH A WOMAN BEFORE!”

Gen could hear the panic in her best friend’s voice, it may be the way it trembled or how it shouted at her angrily down the phone but something told her that Therese needed support. “Don’t worry. She’ll take care of you. And so will I. I’ll be over in ten.”

“Wait you don’t have to-” She heard the call end. “… Do that…”

///

**12 minutes later …**

“Oh god Therese, who died in here?” Gen asked as she brushed past the brunette into the apartment, lined with shots from some of her favourite shoots and pieces of art she had picked up around New York. “Look at this place. You can’t see where the bedroom starts and the kitchen begins.”

“That’s kind of the point of an open plan apartment.” Therese said, taking a few aspirin and gratefully accepting the Gatorade Gen handed her. She had only just brought it to her lips when she felt two hands shove her in the direction of the bathroom. “Hey!”

“You stink. Go take a shower and shave.” She said throwing a plastic pack of razors at the brunette.

Therese looked down at them frowning. “I shaved my armpits like a week ago.”

“Oh then shave and shave your armpits too.” Gen replied kicking off her heels to get to work on Therese’s apartment.

“What am I meant to shave?” She asked confused.

“Therese I swear to God I will shave you myself!” She said nearing the brunette with a plate she was about to wash.

“Alright I’m going! I’m going!” Gen was right to get her to wash. She looked a state, and the shower got some of her blood circulating, so she felt more human and less like a zombie. When she got out her oversized worn bed shirt was gone and in its place were the underwear Gen had bought her for her birthday and nothing else. She decided to stick with the towel. “Gen?” She called out as she walked into the apartment, seeing her raven haired friend collecting her clothes off the floor and putting them into a wash basket.

“Yes?”

“Where the hell is my shirt?” She asked looking around the apartment which was looking a lot better already.

“In this wash basket where it belongs. You stank Therese. Now show me the underwear.”

“No!”

“Therese go put it on and then get back out here…” They participated in a small stare off but Therese blinked first when Gen snapped. “Now!” Therese jumped into action, scuttling back into the bathroom, huffing and puffing like a scorned child before coming back out still wrapped up in her towel. “Drop it!” Gen said as if telling a puppy to put its ball down and like a puppy Therese did, clutching at her arms a little self-consciously. “Hey you look hot!”

“No I don’t this is embarrassing! I look like an idiot, can I not just wear my bo-“

“Your boxers and sports bra?” Gen asked raising an eyebrow. “No.” She concluded. “Not when you’ve got that rocking body underneath. C’mon make a little effort.” She winked, picking up the last few pieces.

“Richard never minded my boxers.” Therese said grumbling but Gen caught it.

“Did Richard also fuck you with the lights off?” Therese looked anywhere but a mirror and Gen who was currently putting the clothes in the washing machine. “I thought so. Seriously, sex is so good Therese. You’re going to love it. And look at you! I’m proud.” The proudness was short lived. “Now throw on a shirt and get your nail clippers while I take the trash to the chute.”

“The nail clippers?” Therese frowned as Gen shook her head and smiled, picking up the bin bags.

“Trust me. You’ll thank me later.”

///

_Her name is Carol. She’s 34. She’s clean and she’s a lesbian. Oh, and she’s good at being one too._

The only information Gen left Therese with. “She’s good at being a lesbian too? What the fuck does that even mean?” Since Gen had left Therese had done nothing but carry out the long to do list before Carol came. It consisted of Hoovering, drying the washing, putting it away, emptying the dishwasher, restocking the fridge and freezer, buying decent coffee, changing the sheet, pillowcases and lastly wear the casual cool outfit that Gen had laid out.

She had to hand it to Gen, the woman was extremely organised, down to the last details on the to-do list she had left Therese. Last on the list was, _have fun ;)_

 Therese believed the last thing she would be doing that night was having fun since she had never been with a woman before in her life. She was on her phone like a flash, sat at the kitchen table, scrolling through article after article on lesbian sex.

She searched positions, etiquette, how she should wear her hair, everything, and each site said something different. “I should just call this off. I should just ring Gen and sort out my sexual urges with my own two hands.”

She clicked on her contact scrolling down to Gen and pressed dial. “Hello, Therese? Aren’t you meant to be having mind blowing orgasms by now? Please don’t say you rang me in the middle of sex.”

“No she isn’t here yet, Gen. I can’t do this. I can’t sleep with her. I’ve never slept with a woman before and I’ve been doing a little research and, it looks way too complicated.” Therese stressed, closing the tabs on her phone.

“It’s the complications that feel the best Therese. There’s more to life than laying on your back and taking it.”

“But what if I can’t make her cum? Or if I do it wrong? Or if she’s doing things to me down there and I sneeze and break her fingers?”

“Ok. Number 1. What sites have you been looking on, because unless you’ve been constantly keagling since the age of four I’m pretty sure that’s impossible? And number 2, making her cum isn’t the endgame for you Therese. Just focus on reaching your own orgasm first.” Gen sniggered.

Therese heard the doorbell ring but she was so engrossed on her conversation with Gen that she thought nothing of it and walked to the door to open it. “I mean, what if it’s too hard or too soft, or I’m just not aroused. What if I’m just weird and nobody can _take care of me_ if you know what I mean.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Therese heard a voice say as she opened the door. She was struck by the image of a tall blonde woman, dressed in a white blouse and red shorts and matching crimson shoes. “I’ll take care of you just fine.” She said her ruby lips letting the deep smooth voice wash over her as she crossed the threshold, taking the brunette’s dazed face in her hands and connecting their lips in a controlled way, that only grew as Therese’s shock receded into a wild and passionate lip lock.


	2. ...

Therese dropped her phone onto the floor along with the distant calls of her name through the phone as she was intoxicated with the silk touches of the blonde that pulled her closer ad urged their kiss deeper. Suddenly there was a height change as the blonde kicked off her heels, although she still had a few inches on Therese, it made it easier for the brunette to push the kiss further.

Therese was sure she had red lipstick smeared over her face, but she didn’t care as the blonde’s kiss became addictive. She inhaled, only to be knocked out by the dizzying scent of Carol which made her legs weaken.

She couldn’t comprehend any of her own movements, apart from the ones that moved along Carol’s in their embrace. “Touch me, Therese.” The sound of her name from the deity’s lips sent goose bumps up her neck, making the hair stand on end, but the three little words sprung her nervous system into action, purging it with electricity so she could reach out and claw the blonde’s waist closer, pulling the red clad ass against her body in want.

Their lips parted for air, and Therese let go of the blonde’s ass, scared of what her body was making her do but before she could think of what to do with them a whimper slip from her mouth, as Carol now kissed down her neck and along her collar bone, reaching Therese’s hands that floated, suspended in the air, taking them in her own and replacing them on to her ass.

The brunette didn’t think twice about squeezing the toned peach that had blessed her fingers but what was even more mesmerising was the way she was granted a little moan for doing so. She did so again, harder this time, swallowing the blonde’s moan with a needy kiss, closing any gap between them as they tumbled into the apartment.

Therese’s senses were in overload, meaning she could feel the fire upon her skin as Carol bunched the bottom of her shirt in her hands but barely felt the edge of the bed press up against her calves. And before she knew it Carol had expertly pushed her back onto the bed, whipping her shirt off in the process. Therese landed in a haze upon the sheets, looking up at the woman who held her shirt in her hand along with her bra.

“How on earth did you do that?” Therese asked breathlessly, but the little oxygen she had lingering in her bloodstream was diffused away when Carol removed her own shirt, balling up their clothes and throwing them aside. “How do you look like _that_?”

“Are you sure you were straight before this?” Carol said, leaning over Therese to kiss her, unbuttoning the brunette’s jeans before standing once more to pull them off.

“Well, you are certainly making me question.” Therese said sitting up once her jeans were off seeing Carol throw them aside once more and then begin on her own shorts. Therese didn’t know what came over her but she hooked a finger in one of the belt loops and pulled the blonde towards her, slipping her fingers into the waist band and pulling them down roughly. She hadn’t meant to pull her pants down too and blushed profusely when she looked back up. “I’m sorry, I-I don’t know what came over me.”

But she was soon silenced when Carol crawled onto her lap with hungry eyes and kissed her like her life depended on it. “Don’t be. It was perfect.” She whispered in the brunette’s ear before nibbling on its lobe, making a spark of electricity crackle down Therese’s body before settling between her thighs, warming incessantly. She groaned, her hands fisting by her sides but Carol caught on, pulling back from the assault of love bites down Therese’s neck.

Therese suddenly felt quite vulnerable. “I’m not really… er, am I not supposed to moan.” And then she became even more confused, as Carol seemed to look at her with… _pity?_

“Darling.” The term of endearment was like a soothing balm to a burn, sizzling hot beneath the skin but cool on top. “I think it’s hot when you moan, especially if it’s because of me.” She said planting a chaste kiss on the brunette’s still lips.

“Oh, ok, then… w-why did you stop?” She asked a little perplexed.

“I stopped to tell you that, you can touch me wherever you like, you don’t have to restrain yourself, well not unless I tell you to anyway.” She said picking up Therese’s palms and kissing each of them before placing them once more on her body. Therese still couldn’t believe how soft Carol’s skin was. “See now that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Carol raised an eyebrow and the brunette couldn’t hold eye contact for long, instead she leant forward and kissed the blonde’s collar bone softly, hearing a small gasp and then a little groan as she nibbled upon it, her hands growing a mind of their own as they brushed the small of the blonde’s back. “You smell good.” Therese said peppering kisses up Carol’s neck. She wasn’t very vocal in bed, but something inside her had to tell Carol how beautiful she really was.

Carol let herself get lost in the exploring kisses and learning brushes of Therese’s finger tips, but it wasn’t long before she remembered why she was here, straddling this gorgeous woman’s lap, allowing herself to fall into a blissful reverie. She took control once more, pushing Therese to the mattress and following only millimetres behind as the brunette pulled her down too. She took the hands that stroked at her sides and pinned them above Therese’s head, feeling her inhale against her lips.

Their fingers entwined momentarily before Carol decided to travel a little further down, kissing around each peak before taking one into her mouth, looking up to Therese for her reaction, but the green eyes were shut tight and a hand had left it’s place in hers to thread through her blonde locks, and the other through her own brown.

Carol’s eyes never diverted as she grinded down into Therese’s hips rhythmically, nibbling lightly on the bud before switching to the other one. “Carol…” The brunette breathed, looking down only to see those crispy, lustful grey glimmering back at her so powerfully she had to look to the ceiling.

Therese hadn’t even realised that she had begun matching Carol’s thrusts but the blonde couldn’t be more aware, trailing her tongue down the fluctuating chest before nipping the lace band of her panties. “As hot as you look in these…” Carol began, kissing along the hem of the undies, hearing a gasp accompany each peck, “They would look so much better on the floor.”

Therese propped herself upon her elbows and looked down to the blonde who had the lining in-between her teeth. She had never been so aroused in her life. Nervous but certainly aroused. She could feel a patch forming on her underwear. “Well, I mean if they’d look better on the floor then…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence as she grinned harder than Carol did, watching her hook her fingers in the hem and pull them down her legs, kneeling off the edge of the bed and hearing Therese yelp as she grabbed her hips and pulled her to meet her.

Carol placed a hand in the crease of each kneecap, kissing up the left thigh, so she was dangerously close to Therese’s sex, and it took all of her restrain to pull herself away and nip her way up the right.

Therese wasn’t quite sure how she had never had an orgasm during sex before because she was on the edge of cumming when Carol bit the inside of her thigh, so close but so far to where she needed her. She couldn’t help but scrunch her fingers in the golden locks as those lips and that divine tongue edged closer and closer to her burning centre.

“Are you sure?” Carol whispered against her sex, the cool currents from the wind of the words floating over her swollen lips that begged for attention. She was being teased, and she didn’t care.

“Yes… Yes, I’m sure, please…” Therese panted.

“What would you like me to do?” Carol pushed, wondering if Therese would rise to her challenge since she was beginning to twitch a little nervously.

“Please taste me, Carol.” Therese said, struggling to maintain eye contact, but she was rewarded for it when a soft swipe was administered to her centre that was soon joined with explorations of her sex in accordance to the moans and hair tugs she gave.

It wasn’t long before Carol knew the layout of the land off by heart and wrapped her lips around the pulsing bunch of nerves that beckoned her, wrapping her arms over Therese’s waist, under her legs to keep her open and her hips still, since keeping up with their movements against her mouth was going to be hard.

She let her tongue glide over Therese’s clit feeling her chin getting wetter with anticipation of an orgasm. Carol knew when Gen had told her that it wouldn’t have been Therese’s fault. It would have just been a string of uncaring lovers. And although she objected in being somebody’s experiment, in this case, it was being someone else’s giver. A person to fuck and not get attached to. A person to please and not expect anything much in return. A person to pleasure and watch as they peaked.

“Oh my god… Carol…” Therese said writhing in the bed. She had never felt this way before, and it wasn’t just the sex, it was something about Carol’s presence that made her feel safer. Something about the way the blonde looked at her made her feel beautiful.

“Tell me what you want Therese.” Carol said, never looking hotter as the lower half of her face glistened. Therese could barely think as the blonde drew her labia into her mouth before trailing languidly up and down her folds.

“I want it harder.” Therese said urging Carol’s face back up to her clit. She had never asked for something to be done to her during sex before. “Please. Harder.” Her wishes were obeyed. Carol’s tongue stiffened and each touch felt like fire underneath the skin, lighting a fuse that sizzled closer and closer to the dynamite. “Oh god! Faster, Carol.” She panted, her chest heaving as the blonde complied, the fuse now burning dangerously close.

But it was as if the flame jumped the rest of the line as Carol tweaked her nipple between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes piercing the green and tongue relentlessly bombarding the clit which had never stood a chance.

“Oh, Fuck! Carol!” Therese screamed as the dynamite exploded within her and her body release wave after wave of tremors, her thighs clamping around the blonde’s head and centre shaking against the steady mouth.

She fell from her high violently relaxing back into the mattress letting her feet drop from the edge of the bed, and Carol raised from her knees, assaulting Therese’s senses as the sight of the blonde climbing up her body, naked and flushed, and leaning in to kiss her with wet lips was only building her arousal once more.

“You look beautiful when you come.” Carol whispered, kissing the brunette into a hazy state of blissful euphoria and want. “And I’m glad I could prove you wrong.” The blonde smiled. It was a beautiful smile which adorned her straight white teeth and crinkles at the edges of her eye, all blurring into perfection. “Let me prove you wrong again…” She said wrapping the brunette’s legs around her waist. “And again…” She brushed up and down Therese’s sensitive pussy, hearing her whimper under the attention. “And again…” And at last she entered her, ripping a cry from Therese’s body and another orgasm from her too.

 

///

 

Therese hadn’t been able to think straight all week. She literally hadn’t been able to think _straight_ as her mind was plagued with images and clips of the blonde and her crazy night. Although if this is what she got to think about she never wanted to think straight again.

It also hadn’t helped that she had been shooting nude women all week. She saw them in a different light now. The curves of their bodies, the round of their breasts, the colour of their nipples, contours of their necks, flushes of their chests, the fullness of their lips. But what stood out the most is that none of them held a candle to Carol.

 

///

 

After, she couldn’t remember how many orgasms, she laid with her mind a blithering mess and her legs feeling like jelly. Carol certainly proved her wrong. They lay next to one another under the sheets panting as Carol allowed Therese to wipe her chin with her thumb, but she didn’t allow her to wipe the essence off on the sheets as she caught the drenched digit with her mouth.

“Would you like to stay?” Therese asked hazily, exploring the blonde’s mouth with her thumb. She had wanted to do more than that but she was spent.

“No… I should probably get going.” Carol whispered back. “I have work tomorrow, and something tells me I would probably end up fucking you in the morning.” She winked, bringing a smile back to Therese’s disappointed features. “You should get some rest too.” Carol whispered, leaning forward to kiss Therese once more pouring all of her passion into it, not really wanting to pull away when Therese had run her fingers delicately through her hair and brushed her jawline with her damp thumb.

Carol forced herself to pull away, knowing she had stayed longer than she had planned to, finding the brunette more addictive that she would ever had thought. She pushed herself from the bed, beginning to dress. She could feel Therese’s eyes roam over her behind as she did, and as she was about to turn to say goodbye Therese spoke up. “Will I get to see you again?”

That was the question that had been playing on her mind since her third orgasm. Yes it had fluttered away at some points but other than that it had been omnipresent. “Well…” Carol said pulling on her shirt. “That depends.”

“On what?” Therese asked, sleepily, yawning a little. Carol had really given her a run for her money.

“On whether you can find your phone so I can put my number into it.” Carol smirked. She couldn’t help but smile a little when Therese rolled out of bed at the speed of light, going to walk over to where she dropped her phone, but having to pace herself as the soreness between her thighs took her by surprise. 

She persevered through the aching though, picking up her phone, and giving it to Carol, noticing how the blonde looked her nude form up and down. “What?” She asked a little tired to connect the dots.

“Oh just you being… enticing.” Carol typed in her number as Therese crawled back into bed. “There you go, and whenever you feel like going for round two just text me.” The blonde said slipping on her heels after planting the phone in the brunette’s limp hand.

“What do I text you? ‘Sex’ with a question mark?” Therese smiled goofily as Carol leant down kissed her softly.

“Text me exactly that. But just leave off the ‘sex’ part.” And with that she was strutting away from the bed, wishing her a goodnight and exiting the apartment, leaving the brunette to dream in her wake.

 

///

 

Therese snapped back to the present as she stared at the number in her phone which was titled the name ‘Carol’.

She remembered back to how Gen had grilled her about Carol the day after, and how she had tried to brush it off by saying the sex was good and she had definitely come. But if she kept this up, then she would have to deal with interviews after every nightly session.

She weighed the pros and the cons of texting Carol once more. And in the end the decision was easy.

_? – Therese_

She threw her phone onto her desk, and after her what felt like an eternity of checking over her finances which in actual fact was just under 15 minutes later, her phone lit up.

_Carol is typing…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, i got the idea for this fic from a tumblr post. It was actually a screen shot of a twitter post but lets let bygons be bygons. 
> 
> The post was about a woman who had been having a really bad dry spell and one of her gay friends suggested she slept with this woman who was known for being quite good in bed. Anyway they slept together and the woman found out she was actually attracted to women and never looked back. 
> 
> I remember thinking to myself ''sounds like an advertisement for lesbianism" and then it kind of sparked off ideas for this fic.


	3. Well it depends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

Therese had worried that it was going to be awkward seeing Carol again. She had worried that maybe this time wasn’t going to be as mind blowing as the last. She worried that maybe she had hyped the sex up in her head so much out of horniness over the past week.

She had never felt so happy for being wrong. If anything it was even better. Carol had simply walked in with a simple ‘Hey’ before they were back at it again, they didn’t even make it to the bed this time. First it had been up against the wall in the hallway, and then on the rug as they headed to the bed, and lastly on the sofa when they didn’t make it to the bed.

Carol stood stretching, the sofa was a bit small for her frame, what with being so tall and she cracked her neck as Therese regained her breath. “Carol?” Therese panted.

“Yessss, Darlinggg.” Carol groaned as she stretched out her back.

“Your tongue… it’s something else…” Therese said, shaking her head, trying to wrap her head around how it was possible to have a mouth with so much stamina. If they kept this up, she was sure that Carol’s already enticing jawline would be toned enough to cut glass.

“Well, you would know.” Carol laughed. “Do you mind if I grab a drink? I’m gasping.” She said pointing to the kitchen.

“Be my guest.” She said with a wave of her hand, the other one limp as her arm was draped over her eyes.

“Would you like one?” Carol asked walking to the kitchen naked looking over to the couch, thankful that the apartment was an open plan one so she could admire the brunette from afar and see her nod as she gestured to the beer in the fridge. Carol took out two, searching through draw after draw as she looked for the bottle opened. Suddenly an arm reached out behind her, opening one she hadn’t rifled through yet to grab it, looking at Carol amusedly. “Thank you…” The blonde said rolling her grey eyes.

She cracked open each bottle and handed one to Therese. “Cheers.” Therese said clinking together their bottles as Carol turned to face her. They both drank, never breaking eye contact as the pressure in the bottles grew, and they set them upon the marble kitchen island. The brunette neared ever so slightly, backing the blonde into the surface before placing a hand on the backs of the blonde’s thighs urging her to hop up onto the counter.

Carol did, gasping a little at the cold hard surface before taking another sip of beer. Therese gently pried the drink from her hand, putting it back down on the island before kissing Carol sensually, and when she pulled back the blonde’s eyes remained closed momentarily. When she opened them, she was met with studying green. “What?” Carol asked raising an eyebrow, her eyes flickering to Therese’s lips briefly.

“What if _this_ became a regular thing?” Therese asked after a brief silence, reaching behind the blonde to grab her beer, hearing Carol’s breath get shallower as she neared to pick it up.

“What? You texting me a question mark and me coming to fuck you?” Carol asked, charmed, but also fighting against the urge to bite the vein on Therese’s neck that moved when she swallowed.

“Well…” Therese said pulling the bottle from her lips, allowing its sweating glass to brush along the outside of Carol’s thigh as she replaced it on its coaster. “I was hoping if it did… it wouldn’t just be _you_ fucking _me_.”

Carol caught on rather quickly even though the wet trail that decorated her leg didn’t help her thought process. “Well that depends.” She said her eyes narrowing.

“Oh what?” Therese asked, taking a leap and pulling Carol a little closer to the edge of the island.

Carol took a deep breath, building the suspense. “On what you do next…” She smiled.

Therese lunged forward, claiming the blonde’s lips, supporting the blonde’s legs in her hands as she felt long arms cross at the wrist behind her neck. She made light work of Carol’s neck and collarbone, knowing their crevices inside out, and urgently made her way down to her full breasts.

Therese would not be lying if she said she had dreamt about these breasts. She had touched them. Massaged them. Felt them brushing against her, but now was her time to worship them. She massaged the left whilst kissing and nipping around the right in spirals getting agonisingly close to the nipple before pouncing upon it, pulling it between her teeth before letting go and soothing it with soft swipes of her tongue before doing the same on the other.

Carol knew that she was the only woman Therese had ever been with, but this side of Therese that was looking up for her reactions for the wild things she was doing to her body seemed experienced. She couldn’t help but moan as the brunette stimulated her nipples or ran a teasing hand over her sex.

She could only watch and writhe as she kissed up the inside of each leg, agonisingly slowly, getting even slower and more detailed in their attention the higher the kisses and suckles became. “Please, Therese.” Carol gave in, there was something about Therese that made her so hot under her skin.

“Tell me what to do Carol…” Therese said, her lips hovering between Carol’s thighs, switching between the both of them. She could copy Carol’s movements all over her body, but when it came to pleasuring her, she was lost. Whenever Carol had touched her pussy her mind had gone blank with pure lust. This was new territory. “Tell me what to do. Tell me what you like.”

The blonde looked down at the brunette who awaited her orders. “Lick slowly up and down, explore for a while. It’s ok, I’ll guide you through this…” Therese nodded, steadying herself before planting a hand on Carol’s chest, pushing her down to lay upon the island. The surface was like ice against her skin, but she didn’t have time to revel in the sensation as Therese had parted her lips and her tongue had descended to her folds.

Carol gasped as Therese’s tongue was cold from the beer. She drank in all of Carol’s essences, she smelt even more intoxicating here and tasted divine. It was the taste of Carol. It was unique, and she selfishly wanted it all to herself, so she didn’t let one drop get past her, losing herself in catching every single trace of it until the blonde pulled her back to reality, where she was squirming in want and lust. “You taste amazing…” Therese said, reasoning to her prolonged time worshiping Carol’s pussy.

“Take my clit into your mouth and brush it with your tongue, slowly, and then build up speed over time.” Therese refocused, looking down to the sensitive bundle that had stiffened in arousal. She kissed around it, making Carol gasp and writhe, until she could tell the blonde was becoming frustrated, so she took it into her mouth and basked in the moans that tumbled from Carol’s sweating body.

With each swipe of her tongue a new moan and grunt of approval was released from Carol’s body and it wasn’t long before Therese had found which strokes worked best, which pressure brought about the most pleasure. She could feel her chin growing wet from the essence that poured from the blonde and allowed Carol to breathe momentarily, but it wasn’t long before the air had been ripped out of her in the form of a scream, as Therese had plunged her tongue into her centre.

Even though the fingers in her hair urged her to continue, Therese looked up concerned. “Are you-“

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Carol breathed pulling Therese back down. “Do it again.” The brunette obeyed. “And don’t stop.” Therese entered the blonde once more, feeling her tight velvety walls clench around her tongue as it repeatedly entered. Her jaw began to ache, but she didn’t care. Carol cries acted as anaesthesia.

She could feel Carol’s hips moving for a better angle, for something to brush against her clit as she clung to the edges of the marble island so Therese hooked an arm around so she could toy lightly with it, creating a gush of liquid against her face.

“Therese… Therese you feel so good. I think I’m going to cum.” Carol’s words were like music to her ears as there was nothing else Therese wanted to see more than the blonde cum. She stiffened her tongue and urged her neck to work faster, and pulled back the hood on Carol’s clit just a little further.

It wasn’t much longer before the blonde was arching violently off of the countertop and into Therese’s mouth, her body stiffening and shaking as her orgasm washed through each muscle fibre, making them jerk with pleasure. Her fingers fisted in the brown hair and held Therese in place although she didn’t need to be told, she was happy to just bathe in the beauty of it all, from the shaking of her body to the expression on her face. She had never seen someone so uninhibited or free.

When Carol’s body relaxed, and her fingers let her go to lay relaxed on the island she withdrew her tongue, drinking in the aftermath of the blonde’s orgasm and kissing her clit lightly as she made her way back up the sculpted body seeing it twitch under her.

All of a sudden, Carol sat up pulling Therese’s face from her body to meet her face, kissing her hard, before relaxing into a gentler kiss, tasting herself upon the other woman’s lips. When they pulled apart, Carol let her head rest upon Therese’s, keeping her eyes closed as she regained her senses.

“So…” Therese began, pulling away, waiting until Carol opened her grey eyes to wipe her chin with her thumb and suck off the sweetness seductively. “Would you like for this to become a regular thing?” She smiled, rather smugly as it was now Carol’s turn to look severely fucked with.

Therese assumed that it would be with the amount of times Carol had screamed ‘yes’ throughout that night.

 

///

 

Carol woke up rather early, having had a good night sleep, but the view that greeted her was unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. This was the third time in row they had slept together over night.

The first time, Carol had stayed over, they had both passed out of exhaustion and she had woken up next to the sleeping brunette before cursing herself for staying over.

Carol knew that this relationship was to have rules. Every time they fucked she felt closer and closer to the woman, but staying the night and being there when she woke was not part of this unspoken agreement. For all Carol knew, it was just sex. And just sex it would stay. So the first time she had crawled out of bed, gotten changed, made them both coffee before waking the brunette to tell her she was going.

The second time Carol had woken in Therese’s bed was just a few days ago. She had opened her eyes not to find Therese in front of her sleeping peacefully, but dancing in the kitchen with her headphones in as she buttered toast. Carol had left with toast wrapped up in tin foil and a coffee in a to-go cup since she had to get going as she had work that day.

And now, the third time she had woken in this apartment, it was a late Saturday morning and she was holding Therese from behind. In the aftermath of a blissful joint orgasm she had collapsed to one side and pulled the brunette’s back into her front holding her close as they climbed down and drifted to sleep.

Carol had to admit whenever she slept in her own bed without Therese it felt weird. It felt lonely. It was nice to have someone to steal body heat from. But having a ‘just sex’ relationship didn’t come with spooning and a good night sleep. It didn’t even come with a good night sleep. So she shimmied away from the brunette, but woke her in the process.

“Morning, beautiful.” Therese yawned, blinking hard. She rubbed the sleep from her eye adorably, seeing Carol sat on the edge of the bed. She tilted the blonde’s head back to her so she could place a sensual kiss upon her lips before crawling from the bed, grabbing a robe on the way to the kitchen. “You know, I’ve run out of to-go cups, so I’m going to have to give you a thermos. You can just bring it back next time.” Therese said reaching into her cupboard.

Carol walked into the bathroom, washing up slightly and going to the toilet before coming out and getting changed. By the time she got to the kitchen her coffee was being poured into the thermos. “Honestly, you d-don’t have to …” She yawned. “…Do that I don’t need coffee.”

Therese giggled, putting on the lid. “Yeah, try saying that again without yawning. And what kind of person would I be to let you leave without coffee? I’m not a monster, I can’t exhaust you all night and then expect you to be refreshed the next morning. Here.” She said placing it in Carol’s hand.

“Thank you, angel.” Carol’s eyes widened a little as she looked down at the thermos. She had let another term of endearment slip. But in her head this term was Therese’s and Therese’s alone. The way her back caught the light in the morning, and her face seemed so calm and collected, she seemed angelic. But Carol brushed it off as nothing but familiarity. “I should get going.” She said standing.

“Ok… and don’t stress too much over the presentation tomorrow. You’re going to smash it.” Therese winked, slipping toast into Carol’s coat pocket. “See you round.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think the NSFW tags in the Carol fandom have ever aligned so perfectly in one week, don't you?


	4. Language

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has absolutely nothing to do with this fic or the Carol fandom... but... the football didn't come home guys. England will not be winning the world cup. I wouldn't be surprised if we had a day of mourning. (Yes, i do take it this seriously i'm from the north i have to)
> 
> Anyway, you may now read on with the devastating fact that England will not be bringing home the 2018 World cup :'(

It had been a tough week at the studio. And it had been a long week at the furniture design company. Carol had been stuck behind her desk staring blankly at her photo frames as she couldn’t bring herself to stare at the spreadsheets much longer.

It was then she saw her phone light up.

_? – T_

She smirked. Therese was insatiable.

_This evening? – C_

_No, I want you now. – T_

_~~I can’t just leave work Therese I’m…~~ Your appetite is growing. – C_

_You can’t deny that yours isn’t. Or do I have to remind you about a certain lift, of a certain apartment? – T_

Carol had though back to when she had invited Therese around after work. She had been heading home when she texted her and they had entered the building at the same time. It had been a miracle to make it to the elevator, let along the apartment.

_Yours or mine? – C_

_Neither. I’ll send you a link to the address. Ask for Belivet and say you have a last minute appointment. – T_

_Be there in ten – C_

Carol took the rest of the day off ill, happy to leave the spreadsheets behind as she hopped into a cab and gave him the address. They pulled up to ‘Exposure’ Gallery and she paid the fare, walking in rather apprehensively as the gallery seemed to swallow her whole with its expensive canvases and mulling buyers.

“Bonjour, je m’appelle Jean. Je peux vous aider?” The receptionist asked in a perky but smooth and baritone voice, giving an air of professionalism but friendliness at the same time. “English?” Carol nodded. “Hi my name is Jean, how can I be of assistance.”

“Hi, I’m here to see Belivet, I have a last minute appointment.” Jean checked her monitors.

“It appears you do. Miss…” She waited for a name.

“Miss Aird.” Carol finished.

“Miss Aird, right this way.” She said smiling and walking like a model. It was a very classy joint, but Therese had said she was a photographer. They stood in the elevator as the music played softly.

“So, does Miss Belivet have many people visit?” Carol couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh yes. She’s one of the leading photographer’s here. I advise you see some of her work on your way out Miss Aird, it really is beautiful.”

“I’ll be sure to have a look.” The elevator opened but only Carol walked out. “Thank you.” Jean nodded before the elevator descended once more. Carol looked about her surroundings. She could hear the tapping of a computer coming from behind of the doors which thankfully read T. Belivet.

Entering rather silently she looked around seeing hanging photos of all different sizes everywhere. Carol was mesmerised, each shot was beautiful, all so complex but simplistic, each signed, T. Belivet. The room, in contrast to the rest of the gallery was dark and neon lights shone on each individual print.

“Do you like them?” Carol heard an echoing familiar voice. She turned around to the source and saw Therese stepping out from behind one of the suspended photos a phone muffled against her shoulder. “The gallery insisted I hang my own for artistic effect, when in fact I think it paints me as a narcissist.” Therese chuckled.

There was something different about Therese today, she seemed a little solemn to her happy self. “Well I think they are beautiful. And I think that you are not quite yourself right now. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just been a frustrating day… Come with me.” Therese said disappearing behind a photo. Carol followed the brunette’s footsteps to an office in the corner, listening to her wrap up her phone conversation in French and when she was done she put the phone down, perching herself upon her desk as Carol entered.

“I didn’t know you spoke French.”

“I also speak Spanish, Czech, and many others too…” Carol was intrigued and pondered asking Therese why and how she knew so many but her thoughts were cut off by Therese’s command. “Close the door.” Carol pushed it shut behind herself putting down her bag. She could see Therese looking at her with such intensity. She went to take off her suit jacket. “No… No just stay as you are…” Carol dropped her hands from her jacket.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Is what Carol wanted to say. “Do you want me to make you feel better?” Is what she did say.

“You are so beautiful you know that? I mean look at you. You look stunning in that suit.” She said her eyes roaming up and down. It was a tight fitting tweed blazer with matching suit pants, with an eggshell ¾ length shirt and a black ribbon in place of a tie.

“Thank you darling.” Carol said leaning up against the door. Therese crooked her finger, beckoning the blonde towards her, and Carol complied walking slowly, not knowing what was really going to happen.

“Kiss me… please.” Therese said, looking up at the blonde whose hair shut out the outside world as she leant down to join their lips. Carol sank into the kiss feeling Therese push her suit jacket off of her shoulders and onto the floor. She cupped Therese’s face in her hands as they continued to make out in the quiet office, but soon Therese was switching their positioning, pressing Carol up against the desk.

They pulled apart abruptly and Therese looked to the desk before looking back at Carol. “Seriously, I can do it?” The blonde asked gesturing to the desk.

“Go ahead.” Therese smiled, the childish glitter in the grey irises making her feel a little like herself once more. Carol turned around in Therese’s embrace, biting her lip expectantly before spreading her arms over the desk and pushing off all its items bar the computer, watching it all clatter to the ground as Therese undid Carol’s suit pants zipper.

“I hope that’s what you wanted me to do because it’s too late now.” Carol beamed, turning around, feeling the exhilaration as Therese crawled over her, pushing them back until they were both laid on the desktop. They kissed hurriedly, scared of being caught although the chances were unlikely.

There wasn’t time for a lot of foreplay but just seeing one another seemed to get them both hot and bothered. It wasn’t long before Therese’s hand found its way into Carol’s pants, and fingers into her centre.

The blonde gasped at the welcome intrusion getting used to it before nodding at Therese to continue. Carol knew she wasn’t going to last long as Therese’s hand would brush up against her clit in between thrust due to the tight space. She let her head fall back to the desk as she took in the deep strokes on her walls, and bruising kisses up her neck and within minutes she was reaching her peak and tumbling down the other side. 

Opening her eyes she saw Therese kissing over the marks she had left on Carol’s neck, soothing them, caring for them. The blonde sat up, taking Therese’s arms in her own, pulling her from the desk and towards the couch that stood in the corner of the room. She laid down and pulled the brunette in tight next to her, entwining their limbs and stroking the hair back from her face and saying the words she should have from the beginning.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 

///

 

“Hey…I won’t… be about… for the rest… of the week.” Carol panted, collapsing upon Therese’s spent body. Carol had been in the mood for control and had Therese bend over the bed and edged her to a violent sweaty orgasm.

“Why… n-not? It’s what… Monday?” Therese said, surprised she could actually form sentences.

“It’s Tuesday. And I’m just packed the rest of the time.”

“You only whip out _this_ kind of sex… when you have to leave for the next 5 days?” Therese groaned.

“I know, I’m sorry. I owe you a favour.” She said kissing Therese’s cheek before rolling off her, gathering the sheets from the bottom of her bed. “Are you going to stay tonight?”

“If that’s alright with you. If I got the subway home now then I’m pretty sure I’d end up in Staten Island.” Therese chuckled pushing herself up from the bed.

“That’s fine. How does late night Chinese sound. I could kill a Chinese.”

“Only if you get King Prawn curry.” Therese winked as Carol pulled up the sheets around her. “Oh and also everything else on the menu. Including spicy beef.”

“Ok, everything on the Chinese takeout menu.” Carol rolled her eyes, grabbing a T-shirt she had stolen from Therese, pulling it over her head and some panties.

“And spicy beef, babe!”

“And spicy beef.”

 

///

 

“So, who are you leaving me for, for five days?” Therese asked taking out the box of spicy beef from its container, breaking apart a pair of chopsticks to hand to Carol before breaking apart her own. The question had more behind it than one would think. She had asked jokingly, but once the words had slipped out it suddenly occurred to her that Carol could be getting away with someone else. Which made it seem like the piece of chicken the blonde was currently chewing, took a year to swallow.

“Oh no one person.” Carol said brushing off the question. In actual fact it was one person. One person in particular.

“You have more than one of me?!” Therese gasped in mock offence.

“No! No…” Carol wasn’t quite sure why she had to justify herself. They had never really talked things through. They had defined their relationship as ‘Sex’. Some may call it ‘no strings attached’ but does spending the night at each other’s houses and buying take out and cooking each other breakfast tie into that sort of relationship? “Do you have more than one of me?” Carol said staring into her chicken noodles.

“No, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have the ability to think if I had more sex than we have… but you’d tell me right… if there was someone else?” Therese said, letting her vulnerability get to her.

“Of course… and you?” Carol asked.

Therese looked up from her beef, swiping Carol’s noodles. “Yes. Yes I would.” She smiled as she quickly stuffed some noodles into her mouth before passing back the box. “I spent about an hour punching out braille for the Art name cards praying I wouldn’t mess up for the life of me. And… you never guess who quit today?”

“Tommy! It has to be Tommy. He has been on edge for the past few weeks!” Carol said stuffing a dumpling in her mouth.

“Nope!”

She chewed, thinking. “J’Marcus?”

“Nope. Although he did a shoot the other day with Giotto and they haven’t been able to maintain eye contact since. I’m pretty sure we aren’t the only ones that have fucked in that building.” Carol always thought that the people of the art world must have been born with these exotic names and become photographers because of them, or changed them to give them finesse.

“I told you that they had a weird energy, but I give up. Who quit?”

Therese purposely waited for Carol to eat another dumpling before answering. “Jean!”

Carol’s dumpling filled mouth dropped open. “Nah-bookin-weh!” She said mouthful, making Therese laugh as the blonde dribbled some of the filling. Therese caught it with her thumb before licking it off nodding as she did so.

“Yeah! I know! She stormed into my office in tears wailing in French saying she had to ‘find her calling’. My bets are a mid-life crisis, she has another job offer, or… someone was extremely rude to her, which isn’t hard in such an upscale gallery.”

“Like Mr. _Douche face_ or Miss _why can I smell citrus?!_ ” Carol said. Therese was well aware of their real names but their fake ones suited them so much better.

“YES! And don’t you worry about her, we have an appointment on Thursday and guess who has been putting lemon and lime poo pourri all over the studios and offices.”

“You didn’t.” Carol said cocking her head.

Therese smiled guiltily. “I may have. Anyway, what about you? Any news. How’s Cy?” She asked knowing the man was one of the banes of Carol’s life.

“Don’t even get me started on Cy. I wish I could just jump in his brain and find that cog that will correct the filter in him. He’s driving away customers quicker than citrus scented poo pourri!” Carol laughed as Therese shoved her onto her side.

“Oh you think this is funny?” She asked shaking the cackling blonde. “You think this is funny? You try buying 14 bowls of poo pourri without looking like a weirdo and scenting each one individually, DAILY as well, I might add!” Carol continued to laugh, her tummy aching. “Carol, I’m serious!” She said falling into a fit of giggles herself.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Carol said wiping her watering eyes.

“You’re not sorry at all, you fiend.” Therese said silencing the blonde with a kiss.

 

///

 

Carol recycled the empty Chinese boxes as she had given the left overs to the brunette, when she saw a familiar black SUV pull up. The back door opened and out hopped a 9 year old girl. Rindy beamed flinging her hands in the air as she jumped on her mother.

Carol wrapped her arms around her daughter, waiting for her to look up so she could tuck her light brown hair behind her ears, whispering to her how much she had missed her. A rather tall dark haired man exited the car as well. “Hi Phil, where’s Harge?” She asked looking up from her daughter.

“Oh you know, stressing about the work trip, packing and repacking. He won’t relax until we land. He sends his thanks for taking Rindy for the rest of the week, I know it’s rather short notice and you were only expecting her for the Tues, Weds and Thurs, but-“

“Honestly, I would do anything to spend more time with my daughter.” Carol looked down to her miniature, crouching down to her. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of this week with you. It’s a lovely surprise.”

Rindy’s smile matched her mother’s. “I can’t wait. Can we go to the aquarium this weekend? I really want to go!”

“Of course. Anything you want! Say goodbye to Phil, he was kind enough to drop you off.”

“Bye, Phil.” She said hugging tightly him.

“Have a lovely time, Phil. And don’t worry, if anyone understands how stressful travelling with Harge is, it’s me.” Carol winked, closing his car door behind him.

“Thanks Carol.” He said before waving goodbye to Rindy, and when he was well out of sight Carol turned to her daughter. “Ok, are you ready for school?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel better now :)


	5. Warm Towels

Monday came round rather quickly and after a tiring week with Rindy, Carol had dropped her off at Harge’s.

Therese was going to pick up her phone to send Carol the signature question mark but the blonde was knocking on her door before she knew it. “Hey! Woah! Are you alright, you look exhausted, and ill…” The woman was very pale and sweating a little. Therese placed a hand upon her forehead. “Wow you’re burning up. How do you feel?”

“You know this morning I was as horny as a teenager, but I went to the work and it was like the flu hit me. I haven’t been feeling very well, but I really didn’t want bail tonight.” She said leaning up against the door frame.

“You could have texted me I would have understood.” Therese said taking the blonde into her apartment, taking off her coat and handbag, laying her down on the couch.

“That’s the thing, I dropped my phone in a puddle this morning… Today’s been really awful, Therese.” She took the phone from Carol’s bag and placed it in a bowl of rice before coming back to the blonde. “Thank you. But you don’t have to. I should get going, really.” Carol said standing woozily but Therese steadied her.

“No, you aren’t going anywhere apart from the shower.” Therese said, her tone telling Carol that her decision was final and she directed the blonde to the bathroom, turning on the spray and getting out a few towels. “Now you get in and wash, I’ll come and get you when you’re done.”

Therese went to walk out of the bathroom and grab Carol’s work bag but the blonde caught her wrist on the way out. “Darling, will you help me undress.” She asked weakly. Now that she was in the warmth of Therese’s home she could feel herself becoming more and more tired.

“Of course.” The brunette said, helping her with the buttons of her blouse and the zipper on the back of her skirt. There was nothing sexual about the way she undressed her, folding her tights, skirt and blouse in a pile, placing Carol’s underwear on top before helping her into the shower. “Now are you alright from here or do you want some help?”

Carol didn’t even have to say anything. All she had to do was look at Therese and then the shower, and by the time she looked back the brunette had begun to disrobe. As the blonde waited she noticed the fish themed sticky adhesives on the shower floor and it reminded of her time with Rindy. She smiled at them as Therese stepped in directing Carol underneath the spray.

The blonde allowed herself to be taken care of, her body washed and hair too. They used Therese’s shampoo and conditioner and Carol hummed as the brunette massaged it in. It was odd to be so domestic. If Therese was to touch her like this usually it would be in foreplay, but as the flannel scrubbed across her back in smooth circular motions Carol couldn’t help but hum, not in sexual pleasure but in the wonderful sense of care.

Therese helped Carol out and dried her from head to toe, moisturising her legs, arms and face before repeating the same on her own body and after doing so she sat Carol on the toilet and made her tilt her head forward, taking a towel to it to dry it.

“My mother used to do this to me when I was a child.” Carol said a little clogged. She would do this to Rindy when she got out of the bath. “Did yours ever do this to you?” Carol asked as the towel tousled her hair dry.

“Oh, no. I grew up in an orphanage, they didn’t really have time to towel dry our hair. We were washed, our hair was braided neatly and then we would go to bed. Nothing special.” She said moving her hands over Carol’s hair through the towel.

Carol caught Therese’s hand gently stopping the motion. “You grew up in an orphanage?” She asked, unsure of how she hadn’t known this sooner.

“Yes.” Therese said simply, returning back to her rubbing motion.

Carol blinked at the bathroom tiles. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m here with you aren’t I? Just as fine as anyone else. Plus I learnt more languages then I did with lessons from all the children there.” Therese said, kissing Carol’s head through the towel.

It suddenly occurred to Carol that Therese had this whole life outside of her, just as she did. A life which didn’t include her. She had friends she didn’t know. A past unexplored. And though Carol felt like she had spent adequate time with the brunette, this had only hit her now. “I can’t believe I never knew.”

“Well you never asked.” Therese said simply. It wasn’t something about herself she found important. And it didn’t really slot into after sex talk. After a few more minutes she took the towel off of Carol’s head, watching the blonde tilt her head up. “Wow, look at you… even ill you’re gorgeous.” The brunette said, brushing back the odd curl from in front of Carol’s face.

“Shut up.” The blonde sniffled.

“No I’m serious, look at these curls, Carol! You should keep your hair natural more often.” Therese said bouncing the ringlets in her palm, to not crush them.

“Why do you like it?” The blonde asked as Therese as she sorted out her parting.

“I do.” Therese said, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss upon her lips, holding Carol’s chin with three fingers, smiling as she pulled away.

“Well, that’s that.” The blonde beamed.

 

///

 

A little while later, once Therese had washed up the soup bowls, she had returned to bed. Seeing Carol already under the covers, mostly clothed, a view she wasn’t used to seeing. They usually lay naked upon them sweating but now Carol sweated for an entirely different reason.

“Hey, how was the soup are you feeling any better?” Therese asked climbing in on her side of the bed, feeling Carol’s forehead, which was still hotter than she would like.

“A little. Thank you, darling, but I’m alright, seriously.” The blonde assured, taking away the hand that rested on her forehead.

“You’ll be alright when your temperature goes down.” Therese worried, reaching to the side table where the orange juice sat. “Here drink this.”

“I hate orange juice, Therese.” Carol winced but the brunette wouldn’t give in.

“Well tough, it’s the only drink in my fridge that isn’t beer, plus, it’s full of vitamin C, so drink.” She said, pushing the drink into the blonde’s hand.

If Carol knew anything it’s that she had definitely come to the right place to be taken care of. She drank the orange juice in one, wincing at the overly sour and tangy taste against her tongue, but Therese looked pleased she had done so. “Can we go to bed now?”

“Of course we can.” Therese said, reaching to flick off the lamp and crawling down into the covers. Carol was exhausted. Exhausted was an understatement, but no matter how much she relaxed her body, she couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was the illness, or the fact she had just eaten, but inside she knew it was because Therese was sleeping a good few inches away from her. She tried to decide whether it was the distance between them that was awkward or that they had never seen each other and not had sex.

“Therese…” She whispered, hoping she was still awake.

There was no response for a while and then as if reading her mind an arm pulled Carol towards the brunette’s body and rested Carol upon her chest. The blonde felt a hand brush through her waves soothingly and their legs lace together naturally. “Stop thinking, just go to sleep.” Therese whispered into her hair and just like that Carol did, clutching at the brunette’s waist and falling into her warm embrace.

 

///

 

Carol woke up to an empty bed and empty sheets that smelt of Therese. She was wearing one of the photographer’s t-shirt and her temperature had broken. Her phone lay in her hand, dry and working, and the sheets were pulled up close around her.

“Therese?” She called out to the apartment, looking about but hearing no one and not hearing the shower either. She turned on her phone, looking at the time which was way into the double digits and was about to curse herself for waking up so late when she saw a message from Therese.

_Hey. Don’t worry about work, you were out like a light. And when I was leaving your phone rang, I told them you were ill and needed the day off and they understood. I hope you don’t mind. I had to lock the door behind me, but I’ve left you a key under a glass in the kitchen. Help yourself to anything in the cupboards. I’ll be home around 5pm. You’re welcome to stay – T_

Carol looked at the time once more. Therese would be home in just over two hours. It made little sense to leave, but it felt awkward to be in the apartment without her. She stood to go to the bathroom, seeing her clothes neatly folded on a shelf and a toothbrush lying next to it. She had never been more thankful to see a toothbrush in her life.

After washing up a little she was going to dress, but her stomach rumbled loudly and the want for something to eat was overcoming her. She walked out to the kitchen, opening the fridge to see it stocked. It was the beginning of the week after all but had a nice idea instead.

 

///

 

Therese put her key in the lock, not really knowing what to expect on the other side. Carol hadn’t replied to her text, and for all she knew could still be asleep, wrapped up tightly in her bed, but when she opened the door, she could hear the frying pan sizzling, and Fleetwood Mac strumming peacefully through her speakers.

She was confused momentarily as she shut the door behind her taking off her shoes as the smell of Thai food wafted to her, just seconds before Carol appeared around the corner.

“Hi.” The blonde said smiling, stirring something in Therese’s wok.

“Hi.” Therese replied, putting down her camera to admire Carol in all her glory, fresh faced, with her hair tied up messily, one of her t-shirts over her body and bare toned legs followed by it. She picked her camera back up to capture Carol as she looked towards her. “You’re feeling better, I see.” Therese mused, as she followed the blonde to the kitchen.

“All thanks to you, dearest, and as a thank you, I made dinner.” She said, gesturing to the various ingredients on the kitchen island. “I hope you like stir fry, because… well that’s what I made.” Therese looked at Carol’s phone which displayed the recipe and the sink which housed the vegetable chopping board in the midst of being washed. Carol followed Therese’s eye line and was a little nervous. “I’m sorry if I used anything you were planning for the week. I used as little as possible, and of course I’ll wash and clean up, I just thought that since I was here and you were at work-“

“I love stir fry… Carol. Thank you.” She interrupted brining the ramblings to an end along with the worried look that was sprawled across Carol’s features. A proud and relieved sense of joy took over as the blonde continued to stir the noodles in the wok. “Should I set the table?” Therese asked, wanting to help, knowing she could get used to this but shaking the thoughts out of her head.

The way Carol knew exactly which cupboard to reach into to grab plates and cutlery seemed to contrast that thought but they had never discussed being anything but. She wondered what a real relationship with Carol would be like. Would it be much different to the one they already had? The question hung in her mind, but it was years away from being addressed out loud, for the fear of rejection overpowered her, and she couldn’t bear the thought of throwing away anything she already had.

“Hey slowpoke.” Carol said, snapping the brunette out of her daydream of the future. “The table? I’m dishing up, quick!” Carol chided poking Therese into action. They ate soundly, and thank you kissing turned into soft sex upon the table afterwards. Now they laid in bed rather still, just caressing one another. “Thank you… For taking care of me when I was sick, I didn’t mean to be a burden and just turn up, i know this isn't what you signed up for and-”

“Hey. Shhh, shh. You were not a burden, and I think you’ve thanked me enough over the past couple of hours, don’t you?” Therese asked, giving her a kiss. She couldn’t believe that this arrangement had been going for over two months. And it was only now she felt closest to the blonde. Maybe it was because they never shared soft moments. Maybe it was because she had never tried to have moments like these.

But from then on, Therese would try to change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies!


	6. What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the MOST NSFW thing I have EVER written... You were warned.

_? – T_

_When? Where? What? – C_

_What. That’s a new question… - T_

_Well, if you answer each of them, you know I’ll try my best ;) – C_

_Ok… 30 minutes. My place. And… Get kinky with it ;) – T_

_Are you saying what I think you’re saying? – C_

_I’m saying, surprise me. – T_

_On my way – C_

 

///

 

“Surprised?” Carol asked sitting naked on the end of the bed with her legs crossed. Therese’s nude form writhed in front of her with her legs spread and a vibrator sitting tightly in her centre.

Therese chuckled, but Carol could tell it was forced and restrained as she was focusing on keeping some semblance of control or the matter at hand. “Surprised is an understatement.” She huffed, closing her eyes for reorientation. “I wasn’t quite expecting this.” She said pulling against the soft restraints that bound her to the headboard.

“What were you expecting?” Carol said looking down to her phone and the little dial displayed on it, which was currently set on low.

“A new strap on maybe. Not a remote control vibrator and handcuffs.” Therese panted, biting her bicep to muff her groans as she rocked her hips forward.

Carol rose to her knees, the displacement on the bed causing Therese to open her eyes. “I can pack up and go home if you like. Or just fuck you in missionary for a while.” The blonde said rather dully, shaking the control in her hand.

“No. No it’s ok.” Therese was quick to cut in. It was a torturous limbo to be in, being edged towards orgasm, but what would be even worse would to be left so turned on.

“Are you sure, I can leave?” Carol teased as the brunette squirmed, pulling against her restraints in an effort to move towards the blonde but also pushing against them out of painful pleasure. Carol knew Therese was going to push her want to beg aside, to make sure Carol knew that she was enjoying it. And as sweet as the gesture was, it wasn’t needed. Carol knew from the flush of Therese’s chest and taunt hard nipples how much she was enjoying it.

She decided to toy with her lover, whacking up the dial on the control hearing the vibrations intensify along with the movement of Therese’s hips. “Yes! Oh fuck yes!” She screamed out, the angle of the vibrator hitting her G-spot head on, building up a knot in her stomach.

“Yes, I should leave?” Carol said raising an eyebrow, turning down the dial so Therese could regain her senses and take in the answer she had let slip.

“I mean no.” She was quick to add but the end of her sentence tailed off as her eyes rolled back into her head, the vibrations making explosions behind her closed eyes. “Jesus Christ, yes!” She said as the sensations increased at a constant rate until they nearly cut out all together to a torturous buzz.

Carol smiled mischievously. “I’m getting mixed signals here, darling.” It was working, and she could feel herself getting wetter while watching. She thought of tending to herself, another form of teasing to push the brunette further but she was more invested in Therese’s pleasure, keeping her legs crossed, focusing on the control pad, increasing it gently.

“I want you to stay but holy mother of God Carol, I don’t know how much longer I can go in this torture.” Therese gasped, her hips now bucking wildly.

“You have my permission to cum at any time.” The blonde said with a smug smile, which only grew when Therese seemed relieved when she was granted it. Carol knew, from many, many nightly sessions that Therese couldn’t cum without some kind of stimulus on her clit, whether it just be a brush of Carol’s fingers or a fully-fledged assault, it was always her undoing, without fail.

And this was only becoming apparent to Therese at this moment as she could feel her body had been on the tipping point for a full minute but refused to let her barrel down the hill to a climactic crash. “I can’t… I-I need you to touch me please.”

“Oh but I can do so much from right here.” Carol said toying with the dial at her own will, seeing the brunette cry out when she pushed it to the highest level, knowing she couldn’t cum.

“Carol… please I need you to touch me.” She begged, knowing her efforts to find any friction for her clit were futile, the restraints made sure of that.

Carol’s words were like honey being poured over her sizzling body. “Where should I touch you Therese?” She asked, setting the control pad on a constant increase over a set time, placing it on the bed next to her before crawling between the brunette’s legs like a panther, her shoulder blades pushing up under her skin.

Therese was sure she would sink her teeth into those shoulder blades by the end of the night, but first she had to finish, before putting her plan of revenge into action. “My clit.” She begged, watching the lioness near.

“And how should I touch you?” Carol teased, kissing up the inside of each thigh on the sensitive patches of skin she knew drove the brunette wild.

“With your tongue.” She answered, bucking her hips up to the blonde’s mouth, only missing by a millimetre, groaning with frustration. “Please Carol, please I beg.”

“Like this?” She said placing an open mouthed kiss beside the bud that had bloomed from beneath its hood. Therese growled. She actually growled. And Carol felt a rush of wetness between her legs. She bucked her own hips, grabbing Therese’s thigh to steady herself. “Or like this?” She asked kissing the other side of it, backing away quickly when she felt the brunette turn her hips towards her mouth.

She looked up at Therese who was looking down upon her with such fire she could feel it burning down her spine. “Please.” She said through gritted teeth, and the blonde thought she might break the headboard with the amount of need behind the darkening green.

“Or maybe.” She said breathily, letting it run over the valley of her pussy, watching the green eyes flutter. “Like this.” Therese’s eyes widened to a size Carol hadn’t seen from Therese before and then flung shut seven swipes later when her thighs clamped around the blonde’s head, her body shook against the headboard slates and walls pushed on the vibrator hard.

“CAROL!” She screamed as the orgasm tore through her and the vibe finally began to slow, bringing her down from the high slowly, allowing her legs to relax and Carol to sit up and wipe her face. The blonde looked at her beautiful art piece that panted against its bicep as it tried to regain its breath.

She nudged Therese’s face to meet her own and trap her in a gentle kiss which caught her groans as the vibrator was removed slowly. “Are you alright?” Carol whispered against the brunette’s lips, worried that she still hadn’t opened her eyes.

“Untie me, please.” Therese breathed deeply, letting her head hang. Carol did as she was told and untied each hand from their bonds, letting the left one free before moving over to the right, seeing Therese’s hand test its movement. She thought the movement was odd for some reason but carried on untying the girl.

“What are you thinking?” Once it was becoming looser she saw Therese’s hand twitch deviously, and before she could look at her spent lover she was being pushed back onto the bed and flipped over.

“I’m thinking it’s your turn.” Therese whispered, biting the blonde’s earlobe as she straddled her ass. “You think its fun to watch me suffer, huh?”

“Oh I think it’s more than fun, it’s erotic.” Carol smiled into the sheet, yelping as her ass was pulled into the air, and a swift hand came down upon it. They had played with spanking before and it was clear it was accepted on both ends. “Jesus!” She groaned as she pushed her ass into the hand that slapped it. “Do it again.” Another one landed and she yelped again puffing into the sheets.

“Oh…” Therese said pulling back to see Carol’s glistening folds. “I can see how erotic you found it. You’re dripping…” She said brushing her fingers through them, and bringing them to her mouth, ignoring the way Carol pushed her hips into her hand. “Should I be more merciful and fuck you, or should I tease you like you did me?” She said reaching out inconspicuously to the still discarded vibrator.

“Don’t tease, watching you was a tease in itself.” Carol said, looking back to the brunette through her curls.

“Did it feel like this?” Therese asked stroking the tip of the vibe up and down watching Carol’s back muscles tense and relax.

“Yes – Fuck!” She gasped taken by surprise by the rapid entry of the toy, as she wasn’t expecting it so soon.

“I would tease you further, but your back does things to me…” Therese said leaning over with two intentions - to grab Carol’s phone, and to make good on her internal promise to sink her teeth into the blonde’s shoulder blade, the close proximity between their hips pushing the vibrator deeper. “Are you ready?”

“For what?” Carol asked opening her eyes to look down her body only then seeing Therese’s hand with the controls in it. But by then it was too late, the settings were pushed to max. He legs crumbled beneath her but Therese held her hips in place, forcing Carol to stay in the same position keeping the vibrator at the same angle.

She writhed in the hold but it was useless as Therese took her time placing open mouthed kisses down her arching back, locking her hips in place with one arm, only letting go when the blonde had cried her name in a blissful agony, allowing her to collapse to the sheets with her on top of her exhausted body, kissing over the marks made on her back.

“You’re something else.” Therese said, turning off the vibrations, allowing Carol to finally relax.

“ _I’m_ something else? Where did _that_ Therese come from?” The blonde scoffed, sighing as her body began to sink into the sheets as the toy was removed.

“She came from the orgasm you denied me.” The brunette replied chucking it onto Carol’s overnight bag.

“Maybe I should deny you more often.” She hummed as Therese kissed over her back from freckle to freckle.

“Maybe I should try surprising you sometime.” Therese said nipping the blonde’s back hearing her gasp before soothing over it.

Carol rolled onto her side, placing a hand on Therese’s face. “And to think you were 'straight' a couple months ago.”

“Oh I’m never going back.” Therese promised, kissing the pad of each of Carol’s fingers. “I think you’ve ruined me, Carol Aird.” It was true, ever since Carol she hadn’t noticed anyone else, female or male, it was like they all had one fatal flaw. They weren’t Carol.

She smiled as the brunette nuzzled her face into her hand once she was done peppering it in kisses. “Good, because I don’t think I could live with myself if I knew you had slept with a guy since me…” The grey eyes widened in shock after the words she hadn’t meant to let slip flew out to greet Therese’s eardrums.

Therese could see her embarrassment. “I haven’t, slept with a man since you, in case you were wondering.” She reassured seeing the hidden relief was over the both of them.

Therese leant in to Carol’s collarbone, kissing up her neck trying to get her to relax once more but Carol couldn’t help herself, there were growing holes in her dam filled with questions. “Not even… Dannie?”

Therese stopped kissing, pulling back to look Carol in the eye, narrowing her own before asking. “How do you know about Dannie?”

Carol diverted her gaze a little ashamed. “I may or may not have seen his name written on a notification on your phone. ‘ _I promise I’ll make it worth your while, after’_ after… me perhaps?” Carol could hear the vulnerability in her own voice and hated ever single trace of it, she should be snuggling into the bed not compromising their… whatever the hell they were.

“Have you been snooping on me?” Therese prodded further.

But the question caught Carol’s ear. She hardened herself, telling herself she didn’t care as she answered. “It just caught my eye, is all - And you aren’t denying it.”

“Well,” Therese began, catching the blonde’s distant gaze. “Dannie is getting married in a month, and has promised me that he will make the wedding worth my while if I was his photographer… and so, I was wondering if you’d be my date.”

It always amazed Therese how Carol’s mood could be turned with a few words. The small micro movements were invisible to the ordinary person but Therese knew them like the back of her hand. “Your date?” She asked quite incredulously, she hadn’t seen this conversation heading in this direction.

“Yes, my plus one.” Therese clarified, tracing small circles on Carol’s hip bone.

“Well which would I be? Your date or your plus one?” Carol asked, knowing there was a difference between the two. A date would be for people beggining a relationship, or had an existing one already. A plus one would be for a friend so that they wouldn’t look lonesome.

Therese was a little thrown off by the question. “Both. I have a plus one, and you’d attend as my date. It would be awfully sad to appear alone when I have someone as gorgeous as you in my contacts.” She said, hoping that she had asked correctly. In her googling and researching, every site had said to ask them, and then compliment them, but the flicker of disappointment told her either Carol didn’t want to be her date, or had wanted to but she hadn’t asked right.

“I see…” Carol pondered. The way Therese had posed it, she had wanted some eye candy on her arm, and who better to show off than the woman she fucked after a question mark every other day. “Sure, I’ll be both. Just text me the date.” She concluded, getting up to head to the bathroom, picking her bag up on the way.

“I will.” Therese said after her, watching the door close before she threw herself back onto the bed throwing her limbs out in every direction in frustration, thrashing about like an angry child.

“Therese?” She heard, and she sat up straight like she hadn’t just had a silent tantrum, nervous she had been caught but found a closed door still staring at her.

“Yeah babe?” She answered trying to sound as normal as possible.

“I forgot my toothbrush.” Carol said, leaning her forehead against the bathroom door. She frowned as she ground her head into the wood.

“There’s a spare underneath the sink you’ve used before. Just keep that one in the holster so you don’t have to bring yours anymore.” Therese said thinking logically, not seeing how the blonde’s eyes had widened in shock on the other side of the medium.

“Are you sure?” She asked sceptically, not really sure by what Therese meant by her words. Leaving a toothbrush at someone else’s was usually a step in a relationship. Carol was getting whiplash from this arrangement she had with the brunette, one minute thinking she was nothing but a booty call the next believing that they might actually have something between them. Or maybe it was just her.

“Positive… I mean you’re here all the time anyway, may as well.” Therese said casually, not really grasping Carol’s intent behind her question.

The blonde sighed inaudibly, getting the red toothbrush from underneath the sink placing paste upon it before running it under the tap.  She looked up to the mirror where her dazed face looked back to her. “Well, that’s that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bless, Therese tried you guys...


	7. Getting it Straight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting Carol and Therese straight... pun obviously intended.

Gen rushed into the coffee shop, clattering and bumping into people like she usually did, always in a rush, a city girl if there ever was one. “Sorry, excuse me, sorry - Therese!” She said wrapping the brunette in a bear hug. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in what? A month?”

“Hey Gen! I know, it’s been… _way_ too long.” Therese said trying to match her friend’s enthusiasm. She had missed Gen terribly, but she had called for this coffee date for one thing and one thing only. To come clean.

“Oh, I know that tone… What’s wrong?” Therese tried to brush it off and start on a lighter topic but Genevieve saw through her. “Quit with the small talk and get to the point. I know something’s up. What is it?”

Therese sighed, her poorly built charade was up. “I’ve-been-sleeping-Carol-for-the-past-three-months!” She mumbled before taking a large gulp of her macchiato.

“Ok, good. Now in English, and preferably 0.5 of the speed.” Gen said watching her friend down her drink and wipe her upper lip.

“I’ve been sleeping with Carol for the past three months…” Therese watched Gen stay as still as a mannequin, the only part of her moving were her eyelids as she absorbed the information.

Her still life broke suddenly. “WHAT?! Why didn’t you tell me you and Carol were in a relationship?! That’s amazing, Therese. You got a taste and now you can’t stop _eating_ , huh?!” She said pushing Therese’s arm turning a few heads to her outburst.

“I didn’t tell you because Carol and I _aren’t_ in a _relationship_ …” Therese said dropping her voice looking around, smiling to a few nosy strangers who were clearly interested in her dilemma too.

Gen’s face read confusion. “I thought you said-“

“I said I’d been sleeping with her… But I’ve _just_ been sleeping with her.” Therese stressed, studying Gen’s face until she saw recognition flitter across it.

She swallowed the information, not quite sure why she was being told it. “Oh! Right well-”

“And I need advice… I really need advice Gen... Bad.” The brunette groaned burying her face in her hands, waiting for the wave of questions she couldn’t really answer.

“So is it a ‘friend’s with benefits’ relationship?” Gen suggested.

Therese hoped not. “No, we are more than friends I would say.”

“Maybe a ‘no strings attached’ one then?” She offered.

“As far as I know we are only sleeping with each other. Either we are both working, away for work, or sleeping at each other’s apartments.” _Carol couldn’t possibly have time to sleep with anyone else… could she?_

“That sounds just like a relationship.” Gen said shaking her head. “Are you sure you’re not overthinking things?”

“It’s hard to explain… We… we will text one another, fuck and then sleep. We get up in the morning and either fuck again or get coffee and leave.” Therese said, not caring anymore about the nosy strangers that tried to hide behind their coffee cups whilst listening.

“Do you have dinner together? Cuddle?” She said picking up her coffee to take a large sip, slurping as she looked over the rim at her friend.

“With the exception of one time, we fall asleep apart and seem to just gravitate to one another in the night I guess… and we get take out after sex sometimes. She cooked for me as a thank you when I looked after her when she was ill.”

Gen choked a little on her cappuccino. “So you took care of her when she was sick… and she invited you round for dinner?” She said wiping the edges of her mouth.

“No she was ill and stayed at mine, when I went to work she cooked for when I got home.” Therese recollected remembering that night well. It had been a different type of sex that night. Carol had held more caringly and thrusted slower, deeper, more sensually, but that was a little graphic for the coffee shop.

“So what happened there?” Gen implored.

“We talked, fucked, went to bed, she left in the morning, brought me back my clothes the next day. Hold on my phone is buzzing.” Therese pulled out her phone noticing a message from Carol. She bit her lip smiling. Gen knew who it was straight away. “It’s her- HEY!”

Therese reached for her phone that Gen had snatched from her grasp but the raven haired woman had simply pushed her face away. “What, I’m just looking… What are all the addresses and question marks?” She said scrolling through the similar texts, with a few date organising slotted in between.

“What do you think?” Therese said rolling her eyes.

Gen’s jaw dropped. “No way!” Therese nodded. ‘Sex?’ The woman not so subtly mouthed and Therese nodded once more. “Where’s _the usual_?” Gen said with a smirk.

“My apartment.” Therese said smiling to the barista who had come to collect her coffee cup. “Sorry could I get another one?” She asked, distracting herself from her friend who was gasping exaggeratingly at the different addresses.

“She says she’ll be there in an hour or so.” She said tossing Therese’s phone back as a new coffee was placed in front of her.

Therese picked it up before replying to the blonde and stuffing it in her bag. “Don’t worry, she knows where the spare key is.” She said casually.

Genevieve lost all interest in her coffee. “She has a _key_?! Therese, look… You two are obviously something more than whatever you think you are. You just need to be honest with her, explain how you feel.”

Gen made it seem so easy, but it wasn’t. “How am I supposed to tell the woman that I _just have sex with_ that I love her!” Therese said exasperatedly, before she clamped a hand over her mouth frowning at the words she had just let fly.

Gen scoffed, looking Therese up and down as her hand fell back to the table. “You love her?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I… I do.” She said hesitantly. “I’ve never really said it out loud before - I’ve never felt this way. I didn’t think this would happen, I have never been book smart in relationships. I’ve never really had the time. I miss her when she isn’t around, sometimes I would love to just sit there and watch her talk, or just call her round and not expect her to fuck me. I just… want to _be_ with her but I’m scared. And then there was the wedding invite-”

“To Dannie’s wedding?” Gen interrupted, enjoying her friend’s ramblings.

“Yes, I asked her to be my date. To be my plus one.” Therese simplified.

“Wait, your date or your plus one?”

 _There that question is again._ “What does that even _mean_? She asked that too and I said both.” It couldn’t be coincidental that both Therese and Genevieve had asked this question.

“Wow. Way to vague it up. A date is someone you pursue more with, relationship wise. A plus one is mate that you attend with for eye candy.” Gen explained seeing the realisation dawn on Therese, but it was short lived as the woman flumped into her chair.

“Oh well then she coming as my plus one then because I think I fucked up when trying to compliment her.” She said pinching the bridge of her nose. _How could I be so stupid?!_

“Why were you trying to compliment her?” Gen asked sipping on her coffee once more. This coffee date had been a lot more entertaining than she had expected. She kind of wished she had popcorn.

Therese sighed. “The lesbian website said it made women more ‘appeaseable’.”

“Are you in her bad books or something?! Where are you getting this information from Therese?! From now on, no more looking up shit on the internet, ask _me_. A real life lesbian that has experience and has a world of knowledge she’s going to give you. Alright?”

“Alright.” The brunette sighed.

“Now, let’s see how deep you’ve dug yourself. Let’s travel down the relationship timeline.” Gen said sitting straight. Gossip and advice were her area of expertise.

Whereas Therese was delusional to all of this, only having short term relationships with men. Not long term hook ups with occasional sweet moments, wild sex and confusion, with women. “The relationship timeline?” She asked, unfamiliar to Gen’s terminology.

“Yep! Every relationship has one. Lesbian timelines stereotypically go a little faster and end up with you buying a cat together.” She said laughing at her own joke that went completely over Therese’s head.

“But I’m allergic to cats.” She explained, killing her friend’s laughter.

 _She has so much to learn. She’s a baby gay at heart._ “It was a gay joke, Therese.”

“Oh…” Therese said rather annoyed that she hadn’t got it, since she felt like she was dating one of the hottest women on the planet.

“Right,” Gen began, getting up a checklist on her phone. “Have you held hands?”

Therese rolled her eyes but Genevieve’s stare was serious so she surrendered and played the game. “Not in public but in bed... well… I don’t know if that counts.” Therese blushed remembering their fingers entwining as Carol pinned them to the mattress, fucking her blind.

“I’m guessing you’ve kissed.” Gen said ticking the box.

Therese laughed. “We kissed before she introduced herself.”

“And had sex?”

“We also has sex before introductions too.” She winked making her friend squirm.

“Have you met each other’s best friends?” She said looking up expectantly.

Therese frowned. “Have you met Carol before?”

“Yes, briefly.” Gen said honestly.

“Then yes. But not with me present and I haven’t met any of Carol’s.” It wasn’t really what Gen had been getting at but it was an answer all in the same.

“Have you been to her apartment?” She continued.

Therese sipped her coffee, these questions were easier than she thought. “She stays round mine, I stay round hers.”

“Have you seen her without makeup?” She asked and began to think that maybe she had made these questions herself because some of these were ridiculous.

“Each time after sex, she won’t allow me to fall asleep with it on unless we are really out for the count… and in the shower but I won’t get into that.” Therese said staring off into the distance, reminiscing over all the new activities they had explored in the shower.

Gen thought she was going to be sick. “Sometimes I think introducing you to lesbianism was a mistake – Anyway! Have you bought her a birthday present, or she you?”

Therese thought back. “She was busy on her birthday, but the day after _I_ was the present.” That had been a good day too now that she thought back. She had never been so dominated in her life.

“Oh my god! You two never stop, do you?” The brunette shrugged innocently as she sipped at her coffee. “Have you had your first argument?”

Therese ‘um’ed and ‘ar’ed but decided to answer truthfully. “We sometimes get ratty with one another if we can’t make certain days work or if we are hungry and tired, but nothing that wasn’t fixed within the hour.”

“So we already know she has a key to your apartment, and your heart it seems, but does she have a toothbrush?” Gen said, narrowing her eyes.

“I gave her one the other day.” She watched her friend drop her checklist sitting back in her chair to slow clap. “How is that a milestone? That’s just sensible isn’t it?”

“Because it means you expect her to come back again and again and again. It’s something that’s hers that is constantly there in your apartment, inviting her to stay over more often…”

Therese frowned. “But I do want her with me more often.” Gen then realised how innocent Therese really was to this whole ‘dating not dating’ thing and decided to proceed.

“Ok, fine.” She huffed picking up her phone once more. “Have you met Rindy?” She asked, about to tick off the box on ‘pre relationship children’ when Therese answered.

“Who’s Rindy?” It was that question that told Gen exactly where Therese and Carol were in their relationship. “Is Rindy her… Gen please don’t tell me she’s dating a Rindy.” The brunette said trying to squirm her way into Gen’s sight, but her friend had realised she had just slipped her tongue.

“I didn’t say Rindy. I meant r….Rachael! Rachael one of Carol’s friends.” She corrected, hoping Therese would brush past it. She now knew why finding solid ground with Carol was so hard. It’s because Carol was lost in this relationship too.

“Rachael? No she hasn’t mentioned her before-“

“Ah well let’s conclude. I think you need to tell her how you feel, either that or stress you are more than… whatever the hell you are.” Gen said, trying to divert the topic as quickly as possible. “Ask her what she’s going to wear, so that you can co-ordinate. Stress you don’t want her hooking up with other people but in a non-controlling manner. Ask if she’d like to stay the night before at yours, get ready together, and then head back to yours after, forcing her to keep two nights worth of stuff there. You’ll know you’re safe when you aren’t scared to offer … ‘ _The drawer_ ’.”

Another term Therese had no connection to. “The drawer? What the fuck is that?”

“You’ll know when the time comes.” Gen said quite distantly. She had gone into some other plane of existence halfway through their conversation, the plane where she sat amongst people like Oprah, Wendy Williams and Chelsea Handler.

“Ok, weirdo.” Her phone vibrated and she checked the message, blushing violently. “I better go… Duty calls.” She said shaking her phone which had lit up with another message.

“Don’t you mean _booty_ calls?” Gen said snapping back to reality.

“In a bit, Gen.” She said kissing her friend on the cheek after leaving money for the bill.

“Bye lovebird!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank fuck for Gen, huh?


	8. Seriously

“I think I love her Abby…” Carol said, throwing back her martini before refilling it from the cocktail shaker they were sharing, although Abby didn’t really count it as sharing since she hadn’t had one drink from it yet.

“Who?” She asked, tapping twice on the bar for another martini from the bartender.

Carol nursed her drink a few times before saying her name. “Therese.” She threw it back before she could think much further.

Abby swallowed the olive she had been playing with. “Therese?”

“The girl I’ve been having sex with for the past three months.” She said dryly.

It was Abby’s turn to sink back her drink. “Why wouldn’t you tell me if you were in a rela-“

“Because I don’t know if I’m in a relationship or not Abby. Which is why I said we’ve been fucking. We’ve also been sleeping, laughing, making coffee for each other before work and giving each other keys to our apartments and I _still_ don’t know if she’s mine and I’m hers.” Carol said cutting off the auburn.

“Well-” She began, not really knowing where her sentence was going so she was glad that Carol had cut her off.

“You know, you’d _think_ you would know. After 3 months you’d think you would be able to tell if someone likes you for something more than sex but I really have no idea. Maybe it was because I didn’t know Therese before this whole arrangement – I don’t know.” Carol said, talking to herself, pausing briefly to look at the time on her phone.

“So-” Abby tried once more but a dam had been opened now.

“But you know what, sometimes I find myself not caring, as long as I’m in her arms. But, I’m falling in love with her. I think I’ve been in love with her from the first time she opened the door with those big innocent deer eyes peering at me when I kissed her. But thanks to our first meeting and our second and third and fourth etcetera, I haven’t a fucking clue what I am to her.”

“You-”

“And, being the idiot that I am, I have let my happiness connect itself to her… We see each other every other day. Unless I’m with Rindy. Which is a problem in itself, since I haven’t even told her about Rindy yet. I mean what the fuck am I meant to say? ‘ _Hey, I think I’m in love with you, and I’d love to know if you feel the same way. If you don’t, we have to end this, if you do, great! Only catch is I have a nine year old daughter that I have kept under wraps for the past three months that we have been fucking. Do you still want to be with me even though I’ve perpetuated this lie out of fear over the past three months? Would you like your key back?_ ’ I mean fucking hell!”

“You hav-“

“And you know what the worst part of all this is? That I wanted to go to _her_ with this problem, because she makes me feel like I’m on top of the fucking world when I’m with her. But she doesn’t know about Harge, she doesn’t know about Rindy, she doesn’t know anything and I have no one to blame but myself, and I-I just don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do with myself! I’m drowning here and… and you’re the only one I can turn to Abby.” Carol said bursting into tears, letting herself sob onto the counter top of the bar.

“…” Abby stayed silent, as she rubbed her best friend’s back in soothing circles.

“What should I do?” Carol sniffled, sitting up, red and puffy eyed to face her friend, barely keeping it together.

Abby thought to herself. “…”

“This is the part where you give me advice and I follow it because I’m desperate…” Carol said, letting out a slight chuckle that only led to her wiping more tears from the corners of her eyes.

“…I… I would text her. Text her to meet in an hour.” Abby concluded.

“What?” Carol asked as it hadn’t been the answer she had been expecting. She expected judgement, and realisations of her own stupidity along with the way to a solution to all their problems.

“Do it now.” Abby urged, picking up the blonde’s phone and putting it in her hands. “Ok, now Carol you are going to calm and collect yourself… Then you’re going to march over to Therese and pour your heart out. Every single drop of it. You’re going to spill every last word you have just said to me.”

“But-“

“You wanted my advice so listen.” She said sternly. “You’re going to go home drink a few bottles of water, clean up your face, because I don’t know how many drinks you’ve had before I got here. Then you’re going to go to hers. Let yourself in with your key and just tell her it all. And the next day, when everything is ok, and life is still going, the world still turning, you’re going to pick up your daughter and spend time with her until she goes back to Harge’s. Am I clear?”

Carol sniffled, looking to her phone and the reply that had popped up on screen. “Yes…” She dismounted the bar stool and ruffled through her purse for money, leaving it on the bar top before wrapping the auburn in a bear hug.

“Tell me you know what you’re doing…” Abby whispered not wanting her friend to get hurt.

“I never do.” Carol replied leaning out of it. “Thank you Abby.”

 

///

 

Carol sat in Therese’s apartment, It had been a little under 30 minutes since she had sent a second text telling Therese she was here, and now she could hear knocking on the door.

She rushed over to it, grabbing the door handle but stilling momentarily, preparing herself for what was to come, before swinging it open.

All it took was a look. A look into each other’s eyes, and the uncertainty that swirled in both of them, for them to give into an action they both knew they were certain about.

Their lips clashed together as they tumbled into the apartment, their clothes flew and hands clawed and cries adorned each other’s names. And as Therese lay sleeping soundly on her back, the sheets pooling around her hips and moonlight caressing her body, Carol watched her.

She looked at the woman who she couldn’t bring herself to risk losing, knowing that not taking that risk made, the probability of losing her would grow. So she practiced, closing her eyes to steady herself before propping herself up on one elbow.

“Angel…” She whispered, being answered with silence. “I’m in love with you…” She said, half the weight being lifted from her, urging her on to release the rest. “And I hope my daughter loves you too, otherwise I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

She watched Therese breathe for a while longer sinking back down to the mattress and pulling the sheets of the bed higher over the brunette’s body. Therese stirred a little no waking but merely rolling over, subconsciously nuzzling her head under Carol’s chin and clinging to the blonde’s waist, entangling their limbs beneath the sheets, and the blonde manoeuvred herself to pull Therese closer before falling into sleep.

 

///

 

Therese woke up, her hand coming down upon the alarm clock which at the time, had been a lovely present from Carol but was losing its thoughtfulness rapidly. “Why the fuck did you buy me an alarm clock?” Therese yawned rolling over in Carol’s embrace.

“Remember that time you and I were both extremely late into work and a certain someone got into a lot of trouble, and looked a mess for turning up in the clothes she wore the previous day? I seriously have never been so embarrassed in my life.” Carol said brushing her fingers through Therese’s hair slowly before kissing her on top of her head and rolling out of the bed. “Never again.”

Therese watched Carol walk over to the corner of the room, opening the dresser’s top draw, taking out a towel and a clean pair of underwear. Gen had been right about the _drawer_. It had just been a place she kept Carol’s things when she left them behind, but now Carol had her own toothbrush, underwear that Therese put in her load of wash, one of the brunette’s shirts which she had claimed, all stashed in her own drawer. And she had exactly the same at Carol’s place.

As Carol neared the bathroom door, Therese remembered what day it was and quickly hopped out, pulling the blonde off her feet. “Hey!” It was rather a difficult feat, not because Carol was heavy in any sense but because she had a few inches on Therese.

“I think you’re forgetting that the alarm today went off at the work wake up time, and that the wedding doesn’t start until 2pm.” Therese said kissing up the blonde’s neck where marks lay from the night before, but her lips were stopped by a telling finger.

“I think you’re forgetting that you are the photographer and have to attend both the bride and grooms mornings before heading to the wedding, and picking me up on the way. That alarm was for you, angel.” She said flipping them over, pecking her lips before dismounting.

“Why won’t you let me see what you’ll be wearing?” Therese asked, seeing the edge of the garment bag sticking up out of Carol’s bag drawer.

“Because you made the decision last night to either cover me in hickeys which you knew I would have to cover up, and wait to see, _or_ leave my body unmarked and allow yourself the relief of seeing it early.” She said putting on her shirt and underwear.

Therese caught her once more as she turned, slipping her hands underneath the shirt to rest in the small of Carol’s back, looking up at the blonde deity as she knelt on the bed below her. “But I want to bake my cake and eat it too.”

“Too bad! Now go get dressed, otherwise you’ll be late, and I don’t want to make a bad impression.” Carol said kissing her soundly before pushing her back into the bed so she could finally dig around in her bag for some slipper socks.

“How would my tardiness effect your image?” She asked, tilting her head to the side to admire Carol’s behind as she bent over to slip on her socks. “I don’t think anything could do that.” Therese said, a little hazy, 100% sure that after seeing Carol nobody would question a late arrival.

“Therese…” Carol sighed. Nothing could ruin the perfect image apart from the disgruntled look on the blonde’s face. “I’m the girl you sleep with every other day.” She said solidly, trying to get herself to believe it too. “I’m the woman you’re bringing along to this wedding. They’re going to take one look at me, and think that I’m the insatiable girl that couldn’t keep it in her pants and made the photographer late.”

“And that’s bad because…”

“I don’t want to be seen as the ‘insatiable girl’. I want to be seen as a _woman_ you’d like to get to know and _not_ have assumptions about.” Carol stressed, not rising to meet Therese’s care free attitude.

The answer to all of this was simple to Therese. “Well then come along as my girlfriend.” _It’s perfect._

“As your girlfriend?” _It’s like my heart has been ripped out of my chest._

“Yes…” Therese said as the blonde turned away from her to fiddle with something in the drawer. Therese would bring Carol as a girlfriend and they would realise that the act they are portraying was in fact already a reality. She would make her move, and hopefully with any luck and some good mood lighting, Carol would say yes. “I mean the part won’t be very hard to play. No one will know any wiser.” Therese said with a beaming smile which Carol caught in the mirror with hidden glassy eyes.

“That I’m not your girlfriend?” She reiterated solemnly. Therese didn’t understand the change in atmosphere but Carol was quite sure of their situation. She was to come along _as_ Therese’s girlfriend. Which meant that she was nowhere near the point she had thought they were progressing to. But she would suffer through this night she decided. She would endure it, and give this a last shot, and if things were as they were this morning then she would call it off. At least saving Rindy a world full of pain. She, however, would not be so lucky.

“Carol-” Therese began, going to ask if the blonde was alright as she walked into the bathroom quite suddenly.

“No it’s a good idea. We should do that.” Carol said behind the door, wiping her eyes, splashing cold water on her face. She took a deep breath, steadying herself as she prepared to reopen the door she knew Therese stood behind. These past four months had been happy, but Carol was in love. She wanted both. She wanted to make her cake and eat it too. “Now go get changed, and brush your teeth.” She said with a new sense of chipper in her voice exiting the bathroom swiftly.

“Carol-“ Her phone rang out before she could finish. Looking at the screen she saw it was an important client.

“I’ll grab your cameras and make some coffee.” She said making her way to the kitchen and refilling the coffee pot, ignoring the guilty looks of her lover.

Therese picked up the phone. “Здра́вствуйте.” She greeted. Carol watched her as she hurried the conversation on in what she correctly presumed to be Russian. It wasn’t uncommon for Carol to wake in the middle of the night to find Therese hunched off the bed, rubbing her eyes as she tried to make her mind work in another language at a ghastly hour. It was times like that she would tempt her back into her arms, and it was times like that Carol felt on top of the world for having the power to do so. “Мне пора́. До встре́чи.” Therese said goodbye before putting down the phone. Looking to the blonde to resume their conversation.

“Go!” She hurried, airing a carefully calculated persona and façade which she didn’t think she would find herself using ever again since her marriage with Harge, but here she was once more, burying herself so far under that she wasn’t sure why she was doing this to herself all again. She never thought she would have to be someone she wasn’t around Therese, because the brunette had become a part of her, Therese just either didn’t know it yet, or knew and didn’t care.

Carol didn’t know which one she hoped for.

She walked over to the room that adjoined the bathroom and opened the door, sliding into the dark room and picking up the bag Therese had packed the night before, looking at the lenses displayed on the table. “Angel, do you want some of these lenses?” She called out.

“Could you pack the 35, 50 and 85F/1.4 and the 70-200F/2.8?” Carol picked up each lens as she went storing them in their bags before leaving the room and setting it on the kitchen table. She sauntered to the kitchen, opening the fridge, looking for breakfast when her phone began to ring.

She left the eggs on the side to pick up her phone in the bedroom, seeing it was Rindy she picked it up immediately. “Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?”

“Oh, not much, Daddy thinks that he’s going to be really busy this weekend and wants to know if you’d like to see me.” Rindy said, bubbly.

Carol would never miss an opportunity to spend time with Rindy. “Of course I’d like to see you! When do you think you’ll be at mine?”

“Daddy says tomorrow at dinner.”

“Perfect, I can’t wait to see you. We can go out to the park or something, would you like that?” Carol asked, oblivious to the fact that the bathroom door was open a crack and there were ears listening to her one sided conversation, and a heart breaking as it carried on.

“Yep, sounds awesome. Ok, I got to go, I’ll see you soon, Mom. Bye love you!”

“I love you too, Darling. Speak soon.” She hung up the phone returning to the kitchen where she put the eggs on the frying pan, happy she would see her daughter this weekend, and depending on how this evening went, it may be with or without Therese. “Therese, I did your favourite! You’ve got to hurry up otherwise you’re going to be late to the groom suite.” She called dishing up onto two plates, rummaging the cupboards for pepper, because Therese didn’t eat poached eggs without it. She heard approaching footsteps. “Hey, do you have any pepper, did you use it all?”

“I don’t know, it should be in there. But it doesn’t matter, I’m late, I don’t have time to eat.” Therese said briskly packing up her things and tying her shoelaces.

“Ok, and also I don’t think I’ll be able to see you this weekend, something at work has come up last minute.” Carol said, like she always did when Rindy came to town. It pained her a little, how much of a coward she was. On one hand she was scared of how Therese would react. On the other she was scared Therese would like to progress further in the relationship but without the burden of a daughter.

“You’re always being called in. Don’t you think you should give yourself a break? I mean it’s almost like you’re working two separate lives with the amount you work.” Therese said coldly, finishing her laces, and straightening her waistcoat and long sleeve shirt, rolling it up at the sleeve.

“Is something wrong?” Carol asked not quite sure why the brunette was being so aloof.

“No nothing is wrong I’m just late. I’ll see you later at the hotel.” Carol leaned forward for a kiss but the brunette walked past her like she wasn’t even there, heading for the door.

“Hey!” She called out, but Therese didn’t stop, picking up her keys. “Hey wait a minute!” Carol said grabbing her arm to turn her around. “What the fuck is wron-” The remainder of her sentence was swallowed by Therese’s lips as she crashed into her pushing Carol up against the wall, kissing her senseless, her thigh thrusting up into the blonde making her momentarily forget as they parted.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just nervous.” Therese lied through her teeth.

“Alright. I’ll see you soon.” Carol said kissing Therese one last time before seeing her out the door. She walked into the kitchen, and round the island, binning Therese’s plate but eating her own. It was only when she had walked back over to the bed and picked up her phone did she realise why Therese was so off with her. “She heard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may be a little MIA ladies, I'm off camping!


	9. Torn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to find a spot of wifi. Know that i read all your comments and loved each one! Enjoy!

“I just don’t know what to do Jack… I think she might be in love with someone else, but we never set ground rules we just started fucking. We never said we couldn’t sleep with other people, but every other week on the dot I can’t see her for the same days and she says it’s just work every time, but I heard her clear as day she’s in love with someone else and I’m just the side piece!”

“Ok, first? You need to calm down Therese, you haven’t stopped since you came through the door. Secondly… You’re a lesbian?” He said blinking like most of the groomsmen.

“Are you fucking serious Jack?! Is that the question you ask me?! I tell you that I am head over heels in love with someone and have been since the minute they walked through my door, is probably cheating on m - No not cheating, but seeing other people _besides_ me, that I’m heart broken, completely lost on what I’m going to do at the wedding, and your _tiny_ brain focuses on the fact that she’s a _woman_?”

He sat down next to the brunette getting her a champagne flute. “I’m sorry that was insensitive.”

“It’s alright, I’m sorry for balling through your morning.” Therese said resting her face in her hands.

“So her name is Carol?” He said rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“Yes, and she’s magnificent Jack, just wait until you see her. Wait until you _meet_ her!” She smiled a little solemnly, if Jack was to see her then she would too, knowing someone else loved Carol enough to be loved back.

“You need to tell her how you feel Therese.”

“Don’t you see? She loves somebody else!” _She’s told someone else that she loves them, she hasn’t told me!_

“Well then you’re just going to have to out shine whoever else may be in the picture, show her you’re the only girl worth fucking.” He said, his boys nodding along with his sound logic.

“I should be the ONLY girl she’s fucking. We never told each other if we were seeing other people. She has a drawer in my apartment goddamit - and her own fucking toothbrush!”

“Oh, so you live together…” Jack said, and Tommy punched his arm. “I’m only hearing about this now?”

“I’ve been having a lot of sex, it’s been a packed few months.” Therese said brushing over it, picking up her camera to set up.

“You have?” Tommy said, looking around before leaning in. “Is it hot?”

“Oh my god, can you stop drooling for a minute and just give me some advice, you asshole?!” She said lighting one of their cigarettes, not caring to crack a window, the stress was getting to her.

“Oh c’mon Therese! Lighten up! All you have to do is ask the girl.” _If only it was that easy._ “Now… The woman. The _woman_ you’re sleeping with… I swear down you were straight last time I checked.” If it wasn’t Dannie’s wedding day, she would have knocked him clean off his chair. She was already teased every now and again by Carol. And right now she was on breaking point.

“Well, last time I checked, I seemed to really like her head between my thighs.” She said through gritted teeth ready to tell him how much more she liked actually reaching orgasm, when another groomsman walked into the room.

“Hey guys, as interesting as this conversation sounds. Dannie’s getting jitters.” He said worriedly before returning.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk him down.” Therese sighed, putting out her cigarette. “Dannie?”

 

///

 

“Carol?! Carol?!” Therese called out to her apartment. “Carol? C’mon! We have to go quickly! We’re going to be late for the ceremony!” There was still nothing. “Carol! Are you listen- … Woah.”

Therese had to physically take a step back. “Ok, I’m ready, I’m ready let’s go.” Carol said smoothing crease lines on her dress that didn’t exist. It was a red, scoop neck, form fitting, scuba dress with a low back and spaghetti straps that crossed over at the back. It finished a few inches below her knee and her hair was curled a little tighter than normal but teased into messy blonde waves. “Therese, I said I’m ready, let’s – Therese!”

The blonde squealed as she was thrusted up against the wall and groped in the most stimulating places. “You’re so… you.” Therese whispered against her mouth before claiming it, squeezing the blonde’s ass as her tongue slipped past the barrier of her lips. Lips which didn’t belong to her. _Lips that love someone else._

Suddenly two strong hands gripped her shoulders. “Therese, the ceremony starts in 30 minutes and you have to take pictures.” She said but the brunette had other ideas, kissing down Carol’s neck. Cherishing the places she knew that she would soon have to let go.

“We could say the traffic is bad. My assistant is at the wedding. And I want to take you just as you are now.” She said, her body speaking over mind, trailing a hand up the inside of the blonde’s thigh, hearing her moan against her lips. “Let me taste you, Carol… please?”

The blonde nodded into their kiss pulling the brunette closer, feeling her hand come into contact with her underwear, but rationality plagued her senses as her mind took over. “No, no.” She muffled into their lips before pushing Therese’s away to straighten up off the wall. “Nope! I spent way too long on my hair and make-up and especially on this dress to attend this wedding as your _girlfriend_. I will not have you mess it up with a quick fuck. I want to be wooed.” Carol said standing her ground.

If Therese didn’t want to acknowledge her knowledge of Rindy then she at least wanted one night of the girlfriend experience. Just _one_ before she would try and pry herself away from the addiction that was Therese.  

“Wooed?” Therese asked incredulously. Here she was ready to worship Carol and she wanted to be wooed?

“Yes, you’re going to have to work for your dinner.” She said reaching between her thighs to hold Therese’s hand and reluctantly move it away. “Which means attending this wedding, taking some of the best photos and being a doting girlfriend.”

Therese pouted. “But …” She said looking the blonde up and down, trying to find the words.

Carol scoffed rolling her eyes, but secretly melting to pieces inside. “Ok, baby gay, dial it down.”

“I’m serious Carol, the things your body does to mine. You’re stunning.” The brunette said as Carol pushed off the wall to look in the mirror and fix herself up. She couldn’t help but admire the blonde’s physique, even though the thought of having to share it was knowing away at the back of her mind. But right now she was content on Carol actually _wanting_ to spend time with her.

“Therese-“

“Each curl, your eyes, your skin that glows in a way I can’t quite comprehend, your flawless bone structure, the valleys of your face look sculpted, and your lips are like clouds that I feel honoured to be able to press against. You are gorgeous from head to toe, the way your back creates art, you don’t even know how perfect you are. And the funny thing is you are just as stunning in sweats or in nothing at all. You’re so…” Therese was lost for words, until she found one that came close to doing the feeling justice. “Magnificent, and so beautiful, and anyone in this entire world would be lucky to have you.” _Even if that person isn’t me…_

Carol was taken aback by the appraisal, but she was more shocked by the air of sadness that had drifted over her lover’s face. _Is she sad because I have a daughter? Does she want to be with…? I should ask her about Rindy, right? Yes I should – but the wedding…_ “Therese we need to -” Talk would have been the word to finish that sentence.

“You’re right, we should go.” The brunette assumed instead, heading for the door, but Carol caught her wrist.

“Wait.” She said, pausing until Therese looked back at her. “You really mean all of that?”

“Every single word.” It was the truth. “Ok, we have to go.”

“Alright…” Carol said, picking up her clutch, pretending to check her hair to make sure the tears would roll down her cheeks before plastering on a smile and walking out the door.

She could physically feel the Therese’s eyes roaming over her, and when she heard a small exasperated voice whisper “Fuck…” she knew she had chosen the right dress.

 

///

 

The wedding was beautiful, and so were the shots. Therese kept finding herself snapping ones of Carol in the ceremony however. She just looked so beautiful. And the fact that others thought so too was getting to her. Each glace from anyone of any gender, was putting her on edge. But she wasn’t letting it affect her photography.

Taking pictures of Carol was the most satisfying feeling in the world. Her collection was vast but seemed so small. Mostly candid and after sex shots, a few posed when they had gotten creative in her dark room. If Carol wasn’t round so often she would have them framed but had decided against it in case the blonde found it creepy.

Soon the ceremony came to a close, and Therese’s assistant had approached her with some of the photos. They were all good, capturing reactions and beautiful moments. She spotted Carol in the crowd talking to an auburn woman, she seemed harmless enough, although there seemed to be an air of familiarity to them.

And before she knew it, the auburn was looking her up and down, mouthing exaggeratedly ‘Fuck! Hot!’. Therese saw red, and it only seemed to deepen into a crimson blood thirsty red, the longer they interacted. Carol and the auburn laughing, giggling, greeting fellow wedding guests together, brushing each other’s arms. Therese’s camera was trembling in her hands.

She couldn’t take this torture anymore. _What if she’s the other woman?_ At first she thought the stupid thought was just that. Stupid. But the longer she lingered looking at them, the less improbable it became. It was when the auburn stranger pouted mockingly putting a hand on Carol’s cheek that she broke, walking through the crowd towards them at warp speed, virtually metres away when she was swiped off the path.

She regained her senses looking up to the person who dare interrupt her warpath but all anger faded when she saw Dannie smiling at her. “Hey, c’mon we’re going to do picture outside since the sun has come out. It looks like it’s a beautiful day.” He smiled looking down at his friend when he saw Therese’s lights were on but no one was home. “Therese? Pictures? Outside?”

“…huh?” And then she snapped out of it. “OH! Yeah, of course. I mean why wouldn’t it be a beautiful day, you’re getting married you nitwit! I can’t believe you found _the_ _one_.” She said, her brain catching up, seeing her lover and the stranger laughing together in her peripheral vision.

“I sure did. And by the way, thank you, for calming me this morning. This genuinely is the best decision I’ve ever made. I love Louise to pieces.”

“Of course, Dannie. Don’t worry, everyone gets jitters.” She said shrugging it off, trying to get the raging jealously to subside as well.

“Hey, so where’s this hot woman that you’re head over heels for, you did tick plus one and I heard some of my groomsmen whispering…” He said nudging her. “Don’t tell me it’s the girl with the massive roses in her hair. I thought Louise was going to use her as a bouquet.” He winked making Therese chuckle, always knowing a way to find her smile.

“Well… er… She’s the blonde in the red dress, over by the pew.” Therese said, looking over to see the auburn was being dragged away by another guest. She felt strangely happy.

“Wow the hot blonde that’s looking this way now?!” He said pointing to Carol who was now waving as she made her way over. _Even her wave is sexy and sophisticated…_

“Yep…” Carol finally made it to them, kissing Therese chastely. “Hi.” Therese said, smiling, she couldn’t help herself despite her rollercoaster feelings, Carol was with her in front of other people.

“Hi yourself. I’m sorry you must be the groom. Your wedding was beautiful. I’m Carol, Therese’s girlfriend.” To say Therese melted was an understatement, and as Carol laced their fingers together, she realised that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, because now she wanted Carol more than ever.

She wanted the blonde to introduce herself as ‘Therese’s girlfriend’ she wanted to wake up with her every morning and go on dates. As good as the sex was, there were times of confusion between them. She felt she knew everything about the blonde, but also nothing. _She speaks so much but never really says much._

“I’ve heard way too little about you Carol. I need you to tell me EVERYTHING, as soon as pictures are over.”

“Yes, of course. I guess this means I’m going to let you go again, aren’t I darling?” Carol teased, looking down to the brunette.

Therese looked up to answer but Dannie cut in. “Oh! You know I’m sure her assistant could take them, he’s quite good. But you know what? You two should get a photograph! That sounds like a good idea!” Therese opened her mouth to argue but Dannie was two steps ahead of her. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. Plus I don’t want you here as just my photographer. I want you here as a friend.” Dannie said, brushing her arm.

“Fine!” Therese subsided knowing full well she wanted to anyway.

“Thank you, Dannie. By the way congratulations, from what I’ve heard, Louise is lovely.” Carol said, smiling at him warmly.

“Yes, my wife is. Feels weird saying my wife, although I secretly love it.” Carol knew the feeling well, she felt the same about Therese and the word ‘girlfriend’. “Hey, don’t be a stranger, Carol. When I get back off my honeymoon we should all go on a double date?”

The brunette’s eyes widened. _Fuck._ “You’re already married.” She said, a feeble excuse.

It was Dannie’s turn to pout. “You suck the fun out of everything. Anyway, I have to be heading off. You know what they say. Happy wife happy life.” He said looking to his betrothed in such awe that Therese couldn’t help but take a photo. He looked like a child who just won the extravaganza prize.

“Never was a quote more true.” Carol winked, pushing him off to his beaming wife who he embraced lovingly before sweeping her off of her feet, relishing in her laughing screams. “He’s sweet-”

“Who was the auburn woman…? That you were talking to a minute ago… You seemed quite, oh I don’t know, friendly?” Therese interrupted, pretending to look at the photos on her camera.

“Oh, she’s one of my best friends. I’ll have to introduce you to Abby. Why do you know her?” Carol said, pleased they might have some mutual friends, but she was concerned with the frowning seriousness that had drifted across Therese’s face.

“Abby… As in the Abby you used to sleep with?” Therese said through gritted teeth, flicking through the photos, anything to calm her raging jealousy. Her blood had run cold at the mention of the woman’s name.

Carol was astounded momentarily, but she regained her footing. “How do you know that?”

“Gen told me before I met you – Is anything still going on between you?” Therese really didn’t want to pry but she couldn’t hold her tongue.

Carol’s eyes widened. “No! Where the hell are all these questions coming from?” _Who on earth do you think I am? How do you think I could do this to you? Don’t you know that I love you?!_

“So you’re just friends?” Therese clarified, still not convinced.

But the clarification was questioning which hurt Carol even more. “What if we weren’t just friends?!” She snapped, tired of the endless line of questions.

“Excuse me?!” _Abby has to be the woman on the other end of that phone._

“What if we weren’t? What then?” Therese blinked slowly, trying to see past all the hurt and pain that Carol may have been sleeping with someone else. And that all of this was just sex, all the take outs and talks. All the soft moments. All the highs. It was all fake. “Seriously I want to know how you would feel about that.” Carol pressed not taking the silence for an answer.

Tears began to gather at the edges of Therese’s eyes but she refused to let them fall, instead muttering under her breath. “I knew it was too good to be true.”

“If you have something to say, say it!” Carol pushed.

The blonde had not expected for the brunette to turn on her with a tongue of venom. “I said sleep with whoever you want. But at least have the decency to tell me.” Therese lied, but she was angry. Furious actually. Most of all jealous and feeling made a fool of.

Carol scoffed, her own eyes beginning to water. “Is that how low you think I am? Is that seriously what you think of me? Or how I feel about you, about us?”

 _She feels something for me?_ “About us? You feel something about us?” She asked but it was too late.

“I’m not fucking her.” Carol spat “I’m not fucking anyone else either. The only person I have slept with in the time that we have been doing whatever the fuck this is, is you.” Carol said landing a finger in the centre of Therese’s chest, the sharp pain ricocheting through to her heart. “Fuck you.” The blonde said shaking her head, angry that she was allowing herself to cry on the day that she was meant to be revelling in. “You bring me along as arm candy to a wedding, where I know nobody but one person, and then slut shame me because I talked to her?”

Therese blinked. She hadn’t meant to imply that. She had simply been angry. “Carol, it’s not like that.”

“Is it not? You’re trying to tell me that you wouldn’t have thought less of me if I was sleeping with her?” Therese opened her mouth to reply, but closed it. She couldn’t deny it. But only because she loved the blonde more than she thought capable and that love pained her even more. “That’s what I thought.” Carol said stepping back. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to walk alone to the reception.”

“Carol, wait.” Therese said reaching out for Carol’s hand but the blonde pushed it away.

She wiped her eyes looking back to the photographer that looked like she had been slapped by Carol’s rebuff. “Don’t touch me.” She whispered. “And to think I nearly… I nearly changed my life for you.” She cried, before walking down the aisle, towards the door.

 _Changed your life? What does that mean?_ “Carol? Carol?” She went to step out of the pew and go after the blonde, and as she neared the door she saw Abby slightly jogging after her. _Of course she is._ But that wasn’t going to stop her. And as she went to take another step she felt someone tug on her trousers.

She looked down, annoyed but her features changed instantly when she saw one of the flower girls smiling up at her. “Excuse me, please will you take our picture?” She said beaming up at her with the rest of the wedding entourage.

“Yes, yes of course.” Therese said plastering on a happy face over the one that was crumbling. She backed up a little, seeing the gap toothed children beam. “Smile.” She said, hiding her face behind the camera, the light flashing, blinding people from the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is an emotional shitstorm but please bear with. This chapter was a little messier than i wanted and i may edit bits here and there in the future :)


	10. Bubble Popping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging...

“Carol? Carol?” The blonde heard Therese call out for her but she didn’t stop. “Carol?!” Suddenly the voice had changed and as she looked back to see the owner of the voice she saw her best friend.

“Abby?” She said in disbelief, allowing her to catch up, but the nearer she got the more she remembered why she was running and soon a quivering hand was reaching up to hide her mouth as she burst into tears, pulling the auburn in close and hugging her like her life depended on it.

“Carol? What’s the matter? You were so happy minutes ago. I saw you run from the church. What’s happened?” She said hugging the blonde tightly as she cried into her shoulder.

“I nearly gave her my life. I nearly gave her Rindy. I nearly gave her everything. I loved her and she thinks I’m sleeping with other people.” She wept, pulling out of the huge and tilting her head back, hoping her mascara wouldn’t run.

“What? Why on earth would she think that?” Abby asked, digging a makeup wipe out of her purse.

It was gratefully accepted. “Because she saw me talking with you and knew we had been intimate in the past.” She sniffed.

“Well did you tell her how long ago it was?” Abby asked, remembering how they had both been young and dumb and stupid enough to sleep together during her divorce with Harge.

Carol chuckled with melancholy. “I didn’t get round to it. She was too busy telling me to sleep with whoever the fuck I liked because she didn’t care.” She shrugged, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Oh Carol.” Her shrug hadn’t worked because she was crying once more.

“Abby, I love her so much.” She whimpered, annoyed that she had even given Therese a small part of herself, her heart.

“It’s alright, Carol… Maybe, do you think it’s possible she said all these horrible things because she cares about you?” Abby suggested, trying to see both sides of the argument.

Carol raised her arms just to drop them exasperatedly. “Why would she tell me to sleep with other people if she loved me?”

“Because she doesn’t know you love her?”

 _Because she doesn’t know I love her?!_ “How could she not know?! We have keys to each other’s apartments. I tell her all the time how beautiful she is. I’m more open with her than I am with anybody.”

“Yet she doesn’t know you have a daughter.”

Carol was beginning to feel attacked, when in actual fact it was just Abby being a peacemaker. She knew this in her head but it didn’t stop the tirade of emotions. “She might, she heard me speaking to her on the phone this morning but she hasn’t said anything. Although I’ll be glad if she doesn’t because I can’t pull Rindy into this giant shit show. I can’t believe I was… Fuck! Never fall in love with a straight girl!”

Abby chuckled. “You really think that girl is straight? How long have you been fucking now?”

Carol sniffled, counting back how long it had been now. “Coming up to four months.”

“Four _months_! Ok, I’m going to give this to you straight, this is how it will go down. I’m going to speak with Therese. Then she’s going to come and speak with you. You are going to have a heart to heart and you’re going to tell her that you love her. And then you’re going to tell her about Rindy-”

The plan was literally all of Carol’s fears rolled into one. “What if-?”

“She won’t… trust me, she won’t.” Abby smiled, absolutely sure of herself.

“How do you know?”

“Because when you were speaking to me, I could literally feel the daggers from a hundred miles away. She wanted me dead. Like well and truly dead. And I’m not surprised because I was talking to her gurl.” She laughed, happy to see a small smile tug on Carol’s lips too.

“Ok… I mean it can’t get worse than this, really.”

Abby frowned, knowing it 100% could, not knowing how Therese would react to Carol having a child since she didn’t know Therese as a person but decided it stay positive. “Sure let’s go with that.”

 

///

 

Therese drove to the reception, calling her second assistant out to do the shoot. She needed to talk to Carol and she needed to be by her side. Therese pulled into the car park and walked over to the marquee entrance, spotting Carol walking in, her arms linked with Abby’s.

“Fuck…” Therese whispered as the jealousy bubbled up. But she pushed past it, walking in a direct line to the couple who stood by the bar, collecting a flute of champagne. “Hi.” She said, getting their attention. _Dammit she’s pretty._ Therese thought as Abby turned around. “My name is Therese Belivet. I’ve heard you are a friend of Carol’s.” She said holding out her hand.

“Yes, yes I am. And don’t worry I know who you are, Miss Belivet.” She replied, accepting the hand and shaking it softly. “Therese, would you mind if we stepped outside and had a word?” Abby asked, trying to put her plan into action.

But Therese had different ideas. “Not to come across as rude but I would mind. I have very serious matters that I would like to discuss with Carol, if _you_ wouldn’t mind.”

Abby glanced to Carol who was looking at the bubbles in her champagne effervesce in order to stay out of the conversation she didn’t want to be a part of. “Therese I sincerely think it is in everybody’s best interest if we had a small talk. It will only take a minute.”

Therese could tell the auburn wasn’t going to budge and their handshake had gone on a lot longer than the appropriate time. “Fine, but first, Carol I apologise.” She said directing her attention to the blonde whose head had snapped up at the apology. “I’m truly sorry, please know that…” Carol couldn’t form words, she could see the pain behind Therese’s eyes and she wanted nothing but to reach out and kiss her, but then they would be back at square one. “Ok, let’s go.”

Abby and Therese walked out of the marquee feeling the grey eyes on her them the entire time but the feeling disappeared once they found a bench near a pond nearby. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Oh I wouldn’t say that.” Therese tried to brush off but Abby was having none of it.

“Well, I could more or less feel you strangling me as Carol and I walked into the marquee.” Therese looked guilty and it made Abby smile. “Look, I have no feelings for Carol. I love her to pieces, you’re right, but only as a friend. I am not in _any_ way stepping on anyone’s toes.”

“It would be okay if you did. She isn’t... mine” Therese sighed, depressed with the reality.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Therese frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Of course Carol is yours. You two, I swear… this better all be worth it in the end. Do you love Carol?” Abby asked on the spot, and Therese was taken aback by her abruptness, and at the prospect of answering. “Do you?”

She stared at the auburn like a goldfish for a while before sighing, leaning on her knees and looking out to the pond. “Of course I love her. I mean… it’s Carol… how could I not?”

 _Knew it!_ “Why haven’t you told her that you love her?” She said, her questions relentless.

“Because this morning she was on the phone… She told someone that she would see them during the week and that she loved them. And when I came out of the bathroom she told me she couldn’t see me for a few days, just like every other week for the past couple of months because she had some work presentation. She has been lying to me and seeing someone else this entire time! I just… I thought it was you.” Therese said, still so confused by the charade. “I’ve thought a lot of things over the past couple of hours. So much so I’m not quite sure what to think anymore.”

“And you’re still here fighting for her even though you think she’s cheating on you? Are you crazy?” _She must be_ thought Abby. She know understood completely why Therese reacted in the way she did and her suspicions of Therese still knowing nothing about Rindy were confirmed.

“Oh I was annoyed. I was _really_ pissed off. I thought I would confront her about it this evening, I just wanted today to be special... But when I saw her with you I assumed…” Therese railed off, not wanting to relive it all. They had never been in a real argument before. They were good at compromising and even though they were different as people, managed to get along needing no one but each other.

“You thought I was the girl…” The brunette nodded solemnly. “Look, Therese. Carol isn’t cheating on you. She would never. Because she’s in love with you too.”

“She is?”

“Is the sky blue? And where she disappears off to every other week? It’s Carol’s and Carol’s alone to tell you. But know that when you ask, you will understand why she kept it hidden, and please react with care, no matter how upset you may feel.”

“But she isn’t cheating on me?” Abby shook her head. “And she loves me?” The auburn nodded this time. “Ok… Then I’m pretty sure I can deal with whatever else she has to throw at me.”

“I would hold your tongue on that one.” Abby winked, lighting a cigarette.

“Thank you, Abby. And I’m sorry, for everything.”

“Don’t worry, I get it. If I saw me in a bar with my girlfriend, I would be threatened too. I mean look at me!” She said, gesturing up and down, making Therese laugh. Abby could never take anything too seriously. “Go and get your girl you idiot.” She chided, nudging Therese to go whilst she finished her cigarette.

“Ok…”

 

///

 

When Therese returned to the marquee she couldn’t spot Carol anywhere but upon looking about outside she found her taking pictures of the flower girls and ring bearer boys blowing bubble in the sunset. She approached slowly, not making her presence known until they were stood next to one another.

“I see you stole my camera.” Therese said, hoping to break the ice.

“Yes, well, someone left it on the bar and I just thought that the kids were too cute.”

“Well, let’s see some of your work then.” Therese nudged accepting the camera from the blonde and flicking through a few of the photos. “These aren’t bad. You don’t take pictures of just anyone. You have an eye for beauty that’s for sure.” Therese concluded seeing that all the photos were displays of happiness.

“Yes well I chose you, didn’t I?” Carol said looking at the kids chase after bubbles to pop them. She was reminded of Rindy. She would have loved to be here. If only it weren’t for her own cowardice and over protectiveness. Carol had always been quite protective of Rindy from the moment she was born. Her birth hadn’t come at a good time since her and Harge were fighting more than ever but she was the light of her life. She was the best thing she had ever done with her life.

Maybe that’s why this whole charade with Therese was so difficult. Because agreeing to sleep with Therese Belivet was another thing she thought she had done right. Or maybe it because it would mean letting her guard down on the one thing she cared about the most. But those walls had to come down at one point or another.

“I love you.” Carol said, looking out over the gardens that the children ran around, seeing the brunette’s head snap towards her as soon as the words left her mouth. “I love you…” She said again, rocking slightly as she closed her eyes. “More than I care to admit.” Her nails worried against the stone wall they were perched upon but Therese calmed her instantly when she took her chin in her fingers and guided their lips together.

It was a gentle kiss, no more than the press of their trembling lips, a kiss not meant to last more than it did, but a powerful one all the same. Therese pulled back placing her hand over Carol’s and lacing their fingers together, waiting for the blonde to look at her before saying. “I love you too.”

Carol couldn’t help but smile. “You do?”

“Of course I do. How could I not? That’s why I was so careless with my words and petty and jealous. Because I was angry, because I love you more than you will ever know. And I never thought anything like this would happen. I never thought I would fall in love, let alone with a woman.” Carol elbowed Therese playfully. “But seriously. I am happiest when I am with you.”

“I feel the same way. I feel safest when in your arms.” She said squeezing their joint hands.

“And I know I have been acting a little weird ever since this morning, but that’s because I heard you on the phone.” _I knew she heard._ “I thought you were telling another woman that you loved them. I thought all of this was just sex to you. Which is why I freaked out when I saw you and Abby. But thanks to Abby my fears have been put aside. And as long as you love me, and I love you, then I believe that we could talk through anything that you have to tell me.”

“Do you mean that? From the bottom of your heart?” Carol needed to know.

“I do. And take as much time as you need. I’ll wait.” Therese said determined, she would get through whatever the mystery thing was by Carol’s side. “And I know whatever it must be must be important. So… we can leave it until tomorrow morning. We can just have this perfect day engraved in our minds forever. And when we wake up tomorrow morning, I will be all ears.”

Carol kissed Therese this time, pulling her in close and tight, hoping that the children were distracted enough by the flying bubbles than their passionate kissing. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Well I’m pretty sure you walked into my apartment and turned my world upside down.”

Carol laughed. “I was so nervous that night.”

“No you weren’t.”

“I was! Seriously! But by the time I got to your door I had been psyching myself up to it so by the time you answered and I saw all this, well, I just couldn’t resist.” She admitted, looking at the brunette longingly. She couldn’t resist to this day. “I think they are going to play a slow song, people are coming off the dance floor. I don’t suppose you would like to dance… would you?”

Therese smiled down at her feet before looking back, her dimples deep. “Yes, yes I would.” They pushed off the wall together, climbing a few stairs before heading to walk inside hand in hand, upstream against the river of women pouring out excitedly.

“Before we go in…” Carol whispered as they stood aside. “Know that I want you keep that suit on for our evening alone too.” Therese couldn’t help but turn and claim the lips that whispered so dangerously in her ear, restraining herself before facing the stream of women once more.

In the uphill battle Therese bumped into a woman, and as she turned to apologise she recognised her as a girl who attended her college. “Oh, hi Therese it’s been a while. How are you?”

“I’m good thanks, Emily. I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Carol.” She said, finally behind the crowd of women.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Carol said offering her hand which Emily shook, beaming from ear to ear. There was no stone in her stomach, it was true.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” She said, obviously a bit surprised. “Are you out here for the same reason as everyone else I presume?”

“I’m sorry?” Therese asked.

Both women missed the count down in the background. “3…2…1! Woooh!”

But Carol didn’t miss the flying object hurtling at the brunette’s face. “Therese!” She said, catching it just before it hit her, a few petals falling off it as she did. “Wow, this nearly hit you. Who is throwing bouquets of flowers about? These look beautiful and expensive!” She said studying the white and rose pink roses bundled together so neatly.

“Carol you caught the bouquet.” Therese said blinking unbelievably.

“I know angel, it nearly hit you.” Carol joked, looking towards where it had been thrown from but she only saw a lot of disappointed and shocked males and females looking at her.

“No… You caught _the_ bouquet…” Therese said hoping it would trigger something and watched the blonde finally connect the dots, looking from Therese to the flowers and back to Therese again before looking to the beaming bride.

“Oh… Oh! Er…” She stuttered under the scrutiny of the crowd that seemed to expect something from her, so she turned and pulled Therese towards her, their lips crashing together sparking cheers and hoots from their onlookers. They pulled apart giggling at the absurdity of it all, looking towards their crowd, blushing profusely as people congratulated them. “I’m going to take this as a sign from the universe.”

“A good one?” Therese said arching an eyebrow.

“Yes, well let’s hope anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Am i forgiven?


	11. Dearest

Therese lay asleep as Carol brushed her fingertips up and down the brunette’s back whose body half covered hers. Carol had never been so happy in her entire life. But she had also never been so frightened too.

Today was the day she would tell Therese about Rindy. She selfishly and cowardly wanted to leave it another couple of weeks, experience how it would be. How being Therese Belivet’s girlfriend out of the confine of four walls felt. But she would only put herself up for more heartbreak then she was already letting herself up for.

Therese shifted on Carol’s chest, her legs shaking as the muscles in them contracted, stretching as she woke, looking up to the blonde before allowing her sleepyhead to fall back down to Carol’s bare chest. “Hey beautiful.” She said, sleep accenting each word.

“Morning angel…” She said, burying her nose in the brunette’s hair, inhaling that morning scent of ruffled sheets mixed with Therese’s specific fragrance. The one that put her heartbeat at ease. “Would you like to go out for breakfast? Pick up something at the bakery down the road? I hear it’s good.”

“I would love that.” Therese said, removing her hand from Carol’s chest and placing each palm face down on the mattress, pulling herself up to straddle the supine blonde. “But first…” She began kissing Carol’s lips delicately, before attacking her jaw, Therese’s body snaking down with her hands, her lips and tongue in quick succession. “I’m going to eat something that can’t be bought at the bakery…” She said taking the blonde into her mouth, looking up just in time to see the grey eyes flutter close and hands clench the sheets.

 

///

 

Therese bounced down the stairs just after Carol, both women in shorts and t-shirt, the weather being nice. The photographer had her sunglasses on and while walking down the road, Carol picked herself up a cheap pair from a cart. “You look like you’re from the 50’s with those on.”

“Don’t you like them?” Carol asked lowering her voice, strengthening syllables to amplify the 50’s accent.

“Oh, I love them, I do.” Therese giggled, taking the blonde’s hand as they began to walk once more. They had never done simple things like holding hands down the street, or lean into each other as they waited in line, or kissed as their order was prepared.

Finally they sat, some fruit between them and both of their dishes coming to a close.

“So…” Therese began, knowing that she had promised. “Are you ready to tell me this big secret?” Therese pried, seeing the tone of their breakfast shift dramatically as Carol stiffened, now unable to take her eyes off of anything as long as it wasn’t Therese. “You know, you’re kind of scaring me. Please just say it.”

“Ok…” Carol said, looking at their joined hands, squeezing a little tighter, rubbing the pad of her thumb over the back of Therese’s hand. “Alright.”

“Carol breathe… its ok, it’s just me.” The blonde started to respire once more, not knowing she had been holding her breath the entire time. She reached for her water, taking a shaking sip. “You aren’t dying are you?”

The blonde swallowed. “No… No nothing as drastic.” She clarified, seeing Therese smile with relief, she took a mental image. “Therese, I have a daughter.”

The news hit the brunette like a tonne of bricks, as did the tsunami of questions, but the one that blared the noisiest was _how did you not know?!_ “I’m sorry?” She managed to whisper. She was in shock. Abby was right, it was Carol’s and Carol’s information alone to tell Therese.

“I have a daughter.” There the words were again.

“Right…” Therese said, taking it all in. It was a lot. Especially after thinking you knew someone, after four long months. It was like Carol had another life aside from her. The situation was difficult, because they had only really begun dating, but they knew each other inside out already. Well at least Therese thought she did.

Therese had been silent for a while now and it was eating Carol alive, not being able to read the brunette’s face. She decided to break it rather than be crushed under the nothingness. “Her name is Rindy. She’s nine years old. She’s my everything. And she’s also the mysterious girl I have been leaving you for.” Carol added.

Therese tried to do some of the maths in her head. “She’s … er… she’s nine…? The father?” _I know nothing about her…_

“I was once married, to a man. But it was only for appearances sake. We were friend the entirety of college and knew statistically the married couple tended to make it higher thanks to stability. So we tied the knot knowing we weren’t really that compatible but we got on alright. It made sense. Anyway life went on, the way it’s supposed to. We began arguing but then I fell pregnant. It brought us closer, but not for long. We started seeing other people, and finally divorced. I realised I liked women not long after I had Rindy, and the rest is history. ” Carol sound herself looking elsewhere as she explained herself, scared to see Therese’s reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Therese asked in monotone. The steadiness of her voice spooking them both.

“Because… I didn’t know if this was just sex. I didn’t see it that way so I was scared of losing you… I’m also quite maternal over Rindy… She’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me… but so are you. When I entered this relationship I didn’t think it would go on this long. But then, I fell in love with you and everything _changed_ , it became this secret. ”

“Right…” The brunette breathed. She was constantly opening doors to Carol, some of them had whirlwinds behind, some cool waves. But this door had a tsunami waiting for her. She wanted to know so much more but her head was a mess. She couldn’t think straight. There was a lot to think through and the way Carol occasionally looked at her with such worry, was not helping the process go any faster.

“Therese.” Came Carol’s voice once more, begging for an answer.

The brunette opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, thinking of what she would say before trying again. “Carol, would you mind if I just took a little time to process this?”

The blonde blinked absorbing Therese’s reaction. She didn’t know what she expected but it wasn’t this. The young woman looked so serious and… she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. The uncertainty as killing her, but she had made this bed and therefore will lie in it. “N-no not at all. I know it’s a lot.” She tried to say understandably.

“Yeah it is.” Therese sighed, wiping her hands off on the napkin as she sat upright in her chair a little.

“Ok…” Carol said once she realised Therese wasn’t going to say anything else. “Well would you like to go home?” She suggested, not really knowing what to do.

Therese frowned at her question until it translated in her brain. “Yes. If you wouldn’t mind.” They stood in silence, left in silence and made their way back up the apartment block stairs in silence until the brunette spoke out. “You know? Would you like to go up? I just need to clear my head. I’ll be back shortly I promise, I just need a second.”

 _No. Tell me what you’re thinking. It’s killing me Therese. Look I’m sorry. I really am but I think I’m going to go crazy if you don’t say anything for one second longer. Please don’t leave me in this apartment all by myself. Please._ “Of course.” She lied, letting the brunette go, pulling out her key and letting herself in the apartment.

It felt disastrously barren without Therese there with her. She found home in some of the items there such as the bed that she immediately curled up in upon walking through the door, but now they were filled with a sense of doubt and uncertainty.

They were brimming with a constant charge of probability. And the positively charged probability decreased with every second. It was torture, watching the sun rise through the sky as she looked out for any sign of Therese. Watching it peak in the middle of the day as she paced around the apartment, and finally as it began to set.

Therese sat in the glowing sun, bathed in orange as she rested on a bench in central park.

_A child… Rindy… A Child. How did I not know? She was married, she had an entire life hidden away? How did I not know?!  Wha… a child! Fucking hell… Could I be a…. mother? Well she isn’t asking me to be one. But would she want me to meet her? Do I want to meet her? Why would I not? A child?! A daughter… Fuck! Fuck, FUCK!_

The swearing continued for quite some time, until Therese was snapped from her reverie, when a little boy skidded off of his bike, crashing off of his bike. “Fuck…” Therese said, her thoughts finishing out loud. The boy lay on the ground clutching his knee, his father on a bench about a hundred metres away tapping on his phone. “Hey?” She began. “Are you alright?” She asked, nearing the boy as he looked away.

The boy was crying in another language. She listened for a while, distinguishing to see if it was one she spoke. Spanish.

“No, I hurt my knee.” He said holding his hands over it, the words translating in Therese’s head, getting back into the swing of the language.  

“I saw, here let me help you up, you can perch on this bench and I’ll get your dad. I don’t think he saw.” Therese said hooking an arm under his elbow, helping him limp over to the bench.

“Is it bad? Is it bleeding a lot? I can’t look! Am I bleeding?!” He said beginning to hyperventilate, his helmet tilting at an angle.

“Hey, hey, hey.” She soothed, getting him to look at her. “What’s your name?” She asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

He sniffled, reminding Therese of the tissues in her pocket which she took out and handed to the weeping boy. “V-V-Victor.”

“Ok Victor, will you let me have a look at your knee?” She asked as his hand still cupped it. He looked rather hesitant, his emotion written all over his face, but he slowly removed his hands from the scrape. It was only a graze. Nothing a clean and air couldn’t fix and maybe a plaster. Therese looked up to see the boy’s hand covering his eyes. “Hey, Victor.”

“Yeah?” He said peeking through his fingers at the smiling woman.

It was that gesture that made Therese’s dimple pop. “You can look, it’s just a scratch. You’re ok, it’s just the surprise you see?” He looked down cautiously, feeling better only to see a small scrape. He smiled in relief, looking to Therese, nodding. “Now it needs a clean.” She said, pulling out another tissue and taking her water bottle from the café.

“Will it hurt?” He asked, the fright back in his features.

“A little, but not a lot. You have to be brave ok?” She said holding it up to him.

He looked from his scrape to the tissue to Therese. “Ok.” He gritted his teeth as the tissue neared and rested over his graze. He winced. “Owh.”

“It’s ok. You’re ok… There we go.” She binned the tissue. “Good boy.” She smiled softly and he beamed back, moving his knee a little. “Now run to your father. He will worry.”

The boy stood grabbing his bike, and Therese corrected his helmet. Victor looked up, switching to his second language. “Thank you.” He said before running off, yelling for his dad, ready to show off his scrape.

“De nada.” She watched them reunite and the father nod at her walking out of sight. She sat back down on the bench.

_Her name is Rindy… I wonder what Carol is like with her? Her likes her dislikes? … I wonder if she plays with trains or cars, or like to rides bikes. I wonder if she’s creative or mathematical… I wonder if she will like me._

Therese looked out, seeing it was getting dark and finally stood from her bench. She took to the subway, riding back on the train, noting it was a little late and that she would have to apologise to Carol when she got back. She walked up the stairs to the apartments, letting herself in the building before her own flat.

“Carol?” She called, putting the keys down, taking off her jacket, there were a few lamps on. “Hey, I’m sorry I was gone so long, I just needed to think and… I think it was for the best, I must admit I was freaking out but now, I’ve had time to think it over and…And… Carol?” She asked looking around the empty apartment. “Carol?”

She looked in the kitchen to see it spick and span. Carol always cleaned when stressing. She had woken a few times at night when Carol have a tough time at work coming up, cleaning her kitchen peacefully. Therese looked round into her bathroom after noticing the t-shirt Carol always wore neatly folded on the bed.

It was empty. But Carol’s toothbrush was still there. But something didn’t feel right.

_The drawer._

She darted from the bathroom to the dresser across from the bed, pulling it open to see nothing but a small letter with her name on it in Carol’s distinctive writing.

She pulled it out slowly, knowing what this lone letter meant but not quite wanting to believe it. She looked down at it as her feet dragged her along the floor boards until she sat on the bed, next to the shirt she considered Carol’s.

_Dearest,_

_I waited._

_And then it got to a point, where I knew you probably weren’t coming back for a reason. And I don’t blame you. I know what I did was wrong and I was wrong to spring it upon you but… I was scared._

_Scared of this happening to us. I just didn’t want to let you go, because I’m in love with you. So much so it scares me sometimes, this new sort of warmth in my chest. I think I’ve loved you from the night we met. I don’t understand why I gave you my number that night. I just wanted to see you again, and again, and not just for the sex.  For so much more than that._

_You are amazing. Know that it wasn’t easy to leave but I need to put being a mother first. I need to put my daughter ahead because she needs me and I love her too. I know you may feel betrayed, mad, annoyed, maybe even relieved. But know I left because I am releasing you._

_I could see the fear in your eyes this morning. It was pure and it hurt so much to know I was inflicting it. To know it was my fault. There are no accidents, and this had to happen one day. I think we both knew in a way. That something would go wrong, falling in love with you was like telling my heart to beat. It was too easy._

_I don’t blame you for your fears. You never signed up to a divorcee with a child. And I don’t blame you for leaving. I think maybe I would have done the same in another life. I’m doing so right now. I suppose that you could call me a coward. Firstly running from my secrets and now running from you. All I can say is I’m sorry. For keeping you in the dark. For falling in love. For leaving._

_I love you, angel. And from the bottom of my heart I’m sorry._

_All my love,_

_Carol x_

Therese let the sheet fall to the bed after reading it another couple of times. She looked at the folded shirt picking it up, letting the material unfold. It wasn’t long before small droplets were falling onto the fabric as she lifted it to her face breathing it in. Carol’s scent tainting and adorning her shirt like a wonderful perfume that lingered.

The lights stayed warm. The world kept moving. But Therese was stuck in time of cold loneliness, and utter emptiness, as she sat on the bed they once shared, surrounded by the memories that had once made her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... 
> 
> ... Well what did you expect?! We had five chapters left and the majority of you know that my 'Happily Ever Afters' don't come easily!
> 
> ;)


	12. Running

“Drive.” Carol said as she got in the cab.

“Moving out?” The cabbie asked as he pulled off, gesturing to the bags.

Carol honestly was not in the mood for conversation, packing up all of her things was emotional torture. And now her heart was laying in shrapnel. She really didn’t want to force it back together just for the sole purpose of a conversation. “Well, sort of… I’m er. It’s my partner’s apartment.”

“Troubles with your boyfriend?” He asked, his mouth gummy and eyes knowing, nodding to himself happily as he had guessed the situation before even asking. The cold tone. Bags. Sense of panic, urgency and speed about her.

The cabbie looked so please with himself. “Ha, you could say that.” She said distantly, looking out of the window at passers-by in the red and green glow of the traffic lights.

Suddenly the cabbie’s joy left him as he made a few quick glances to his passenger. “He doesn’t er… hit you does he, because I –”

“No!” She was quick to add. Thankful for the driver’s concern however. “No _she_ doesn’t.”

His worry reformed back into his pleased gummy grin. “Ah it’s a girl… Let me guess. Moved in too quickly and the realisation is dawning on you?” He said accelerating forward, using his database of girlfriends and their rants about relationships to good use.

“No, actually she’s perfect, and I would do anything to live with her. I was the one at fault.” She conceded knowing full well that her heartbreak was on her hands.

“Go on.” He urged, eager to hear something new and what was looking to be like a juicy story.

Carol sighed, knowing that if she was going to have this conversation it better be with a stranger that didn’t know enough about her to judge. “Well, I have a daughter. And I didn’t tell her.”

“How long have you been dating?” He asked.

Technically it had been a day. But who was she kidding. They had been dating a lot longer than that. “Four months…” And those months had flown in a blur of sex, happiness and love.

He winced. “Ouch.” He said, cheeks wobbling as he did.

Carol rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. “I know.”

“So you’re leaving?” Carol met his wondering gaze in the mirror but directed away her own stare before nodding. “Why?” He prodded.

“Because I don’t think she wants to have children. She had a rough childhood. I don’t know if children are her… thing, or if she wants to be a mother at all really.” It had never really came up over their four months of being together. Of course there was the fact that they were just meant to be friends with benefits until the other day. And children aren’t something people tended to talk about in those kinds of situation, ergo the conundrum she had now.

“You don’t know? Well don’t you think you should ask her?” He asked, looking in his side mirror so he could switch lanes.

“She left before I could…”

To Carol’s surprise she heard him smirk. “So you decided that also leaving would be a good idea?” The cabbie smiled with wisdom.

However it was that smile and question that made her question herself. “It made sense at the time.” She concluded not wanting to think about it much further.

“There’s still time to turn back you know?” He offered, shakily pointing to a space where he could even turn them around.

Carol pondered it as the light remained red but when the light washed green she took it as a sign. “No, I have to get my daughter. She’s at mine for the next few days.”

“And your girl?”

 _My girl… she was my girl… for a while anyway._ “I left a note. I packed up all my things… and I left a _note_.” The silence of the cabbie seemed to say more to her than words could as she looked at the condensation of her window begin to streak. The glass crying, matching the tears that now adorned her own face. After a while she looked up to see the driver holding out some tissues which she gratefully accepted.  “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to do.” She said dabbing her tears.

“Oh I’m sorry love. I was prying where I shouldn’t be.” He consoled, feeling a little guilty for making her cry.

“No, no I needed you to, because I think I’m making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”

“A mistake you don’t have to make. There’s always more to life than one would believe to be. If you love her and she loves you too, then she will understand, and she will love you when you return as well.” This man didn’t really seem like a New York cab driver to Carol, more of like a wise man. “If it helps, know I think you’ve made the wrong decision too. Moving out just like that.”

 _Nope… definitely a New York cab driver_. “It doesn’t but I appreciate your honesty.” She chuckled.

“Also know I understand why you did, and that choosing between two lives is hard. And you’re only doing what you believe to be right.”

Carol’s smile began to fade as she slipped into her depression once more. “I don’t know what is right anymore.” She said truthfully. It was fact. Should she have stayed? Risked Rindy turning up without her mother to take her in. Should she have left her things and risked the heartbreak of having to pick up the pieces if Therese couldn’t accept Rindy as a part of her life? It seemed like a flurry of bad options.

“Maybe your girl will?”

It was kind of ironic, that Therese was her last hope. But then again she always had been. “Maybe...”

 

///

 

Therese had never been through such a whirlwind of an evening. She had cried until her tear ducts run dry. She had decided to go to her dark room, only to be met with photos of the blonde. The photos were ruined when she accidently flicked the wrong light switch. She had thrown what she thought to be an empty can, only to be filled with film, damaging a reel that was difficult to get her hands on.

She left the dark room, only to see more painful memories. Opened the door for another walk, only to see kids running to the cinema with their parents, couples walking hand in hand, it all just piled up and up and up, Carol’s shirt in her pocket, cocooning her hand.

And when things couldn’t get any worse, it began raining.

She had sat in the rain letting git soak through her jacket before deciding enough was enough. She wanted Carol. She needed her. She was just like the boy, Victor. In shock, and now that the clouding had cleared she was clear about reality.

She wanted a life with Carol.

She wanted everything that came with Carol. She was apprehensive at first, maybe because if she hadn’t know this whole side to Carol’s life then how could she possibly think she was ready to share her own with a woman she only thought she knew. But maybe she was overthinking all of this.

She hoped she was. Because she was now stood, dripping outside Carol’s door.

She knocked.

The few seconds between waiting for the door to open and it actually opening were torturous. She second guessed herself in the silence but as soon as she heard Carol’s faint footsteps her mind was made. She would not run again.

Carol opened the door, looking at who was behind it, her heart stopping. “Therese…” She sighed, with _Relief? Disappointment?_ Therese couldn’t tell. “What are you doing here?” She said, keeping the door close behind her.

“I’m here because I walked from you when I should have stayed. And you walked from me when you should have stayed. I’m tired of running. I refuse to let something like this separate us.” She said brushing her dripping hair behind her ears.

Carol wanted to reach out with all her might and wrap Therese in her arms, dry her with her warmth. “Therese-“

“No. Let me finish.” The brunette persisted holding up her hand. “I know you. And I know you never meant to hurt me. And I know you kept this all a secret out of the fear that I would do exactly what I did. Run. But do you really think I would be ready to throw everything away because you had a child?”

The blonde’s shoulders shrugged slightly. “You were gone so long. I sat and I waited. And the longer I waited the more the silence got to me. But I stayed longer and longer until I realised that I might be waiting for no one. You looked so scared.”

Therese scoffed unbelievingly. “You had dropped a bombshell on a relationship which had only technically begun 12 hours before hand. Of course I was scared. I know you may not know this but I never really got the opportunity to be a child. When I was out today, a boy fell from his bike, I helped him up. He went back to his father... When I fell I would have to learn no one was coming for me.”

Carol’s hand had risen to her mouth. She knew what she had done was wrong. But like Therese, she needed time. And now upon learning, the guilt was eating her alive. “Angel-“

“No!” She broke startling the blonde. “You left! You don’t get to talk right now! Not when I’m trying to say-“

“You left too!” Carol interjected but Therese took her face in her hands.

“-Not when I’m trying to say that _I love you_. And I’m not leaving. I’m not letting you leave either. Because, I don’t need to be ‘released’. There is nothing that traps me. I cling onto you for dear life, don’t you understand?” She plead, hoping to see her need reflected in the blonde but any emotion was masked by shock. “I want to experience life with you and… and…”

Carol was enraptured, she didn’t realise that her daughter was now clinging to her leg, peering up at the brunette that now held her mother’s face. The blonde followed Therese’s eye line, seeing her daughter, watching curiously.

Therese let go of Carol’s face abruptly, her face of pain and grief replaced with a quivering smile. Rindy looked up at her mother as Carol brushed the back of her head with her hand.

“Therese… this is Rindy. My daughter.” She said trying to break the ice.

The large green eyes darted from the miniature version of Carol, to the one she had been in love with for months, back to the little girl. “Ermm.” She thought, blinking rapidly until her brain thought of an approach, kneeling to the girl’s height. “Hi, my name is Therese.” She said with a nervous smile.

The small blonde clung to her mother’s leg before reaching out and brushing Therese’s soaked jacket with her hand. “Hi I’m Rindy - Why are you wet?” She said looking the dripping brunette up and down which made Therese smile. She had wondered why she was so nervous.

She regarded herself before replying. “Because I forgot my umbrella on my rush to get here to see you two.” Therese signed finally looking up at the blonde. It may have been brief but it was long enough to see her wipe tears from rolling down her cheeks.

“You know my mom?” Rindy asked.

“I do.” Therese smiled. “We are…” She didn’t really know how to put this. It was all so sudden. She hadn’t a clue what to do and her hands stilled in motion as she though before continuing. “… very, very good friends.”

Rindy looked up at her mother who confirmed it with a nod. “Are you staying for dinner?”

Therese thought momentarily, not wanting to look away from the pondering and curious gaze. She didn’t want to push things too far too soon. “Well, I shouldn’t r-“

“Please stay for dinner. Please…” Carol said, placing a hand on Therese’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

Therese placed her hand over it, brushing over the back of Carol’s gently. “Well… alright then.”

The blonde ran back inside, bounding back over to the table to her book which she had been going through with her mother in the kitchen as she cooked. Carol pulled the door to a little as Therese’s gaze was torn away from the little girl running back inside, standing slowly.

“She looks just like you.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot… Look I’m sorry I left. I could lie and say I needed to be home for when Rindy got here but the truth is I didn’t want you to ask me to leave, I thought it would be easier to pretend it was my own decision. Sitting alone in that apartment, for so long with nothing but my own doubts and fears really got to me. It’s funny what the quiet can do to someone. You start hearing and listening to more that you ever did before.”

“I understand. I didn’t mean to leave you for so long I swear. I just needed to think clearly, what I wanted for my life, where I wanted it to go.” She also felt the cowardice in her actions. She had meant to go on a walk, and she had ended up disappearing for hours and hours upon end, giving her girlfriend no warning or indication of what she was thinking, feeling or if she was in any danger. It was immature but she was learning.

“And…? Do we fit into that picture?” Carol asked, releasing her inner most feelings. It wasn’t easy to make Carol Aird open up. It took time and patience, but Therese had cracked her open like an otter did an oyster on a rock. She was exposed and vulnerable, and instead of offering herself to the brunette she had kept her cards as close as possible to her chest.

“You do. And I know that because I couldn’t begin to even think forward without thinking of you. Could you make space for me in yours?”

“Of course I could…” She whispered, the sound pulling Therese in closer until their lips met, dancing upon one another’s until the pattering of small feet neared. “Would you like to talk, after dinner?” She was done with fear. She wanted everything out on the table. Exposed. Vulnerable. And if she was lucky it could be something beautiful.

Therese looked from their entwined fingers to the blonde smiling, her dimples in full bloom. Even the touch of Carol made her feel calmer, like breathing wasn’t such a challenge any more. “Yes, yes I would.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come all ye commenters. ;)


	13. Inexcusably Accepted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

Therese walked in creating her own small puddle as she did. “You’re drenched. Come with me I’ll get you some fresh clothes.”

“Sorry, I’m making a mess.” She said, dripping as she gave her coat to Carol.

“Come to my room, we’ll get you something else to wear.” She said hanging it up, taking Therese’s hand to pull her through the apartment. Therese had been there so many times before. It always felt a little cold, but now it was full of life. Maybe it was the warm glow from the lamps, or the small hair brush filled with hair on the coffee table, or the trainset whirring round in the corner, or the smell of tomatoes and garlic drifting through the air, but the place felt more like a home now.

Therese was stripped of her clothes and Carol hung them to dry and grab new one. She sat on the bed shivering in her underwear as she waited. “You’re trembling.” Therese’s gaze turned from looking after Carol to the little girl who now spoke in front of her. “Are you cold?” Rindy asked taking a wary step forward, clutching her bear.

“Yes, very.” Therese replied only now realising how cold she was, even her voice was quaking.

“We’re having soup. Do you like soup?” Rindy asked as her mother came in with a large warm white fluffy towel, draping it over the brunette’s head and body before going to her wardrobe to find clothing.

“I do. Very much. What kind?” She asked.

“Tomato. My favourite.” It was Carol’s favourite too.

Therese beamed. “Mine too. Did you help make it?”

“Yep, we squashed the tomatoes ourselves. I like it with bread men.” She said smiling, one foot raising off the floor to rub against her supporting leg.

“Bread men? What are those?” Therese asked, picturing a loaf of bread with a smiley face in it.

It was like a lightbulb went off in the girl as she darted from the room. “We’ll make some! I’ll get the bread!” Therese looked after the girl and the smoke trail she had made behind her, she smiled as she watched her totter away with her bear in the air towards the kitchen.

Carol placed a hand on the brunette’s head as she tilted it down, rubbing her head through the towel to dry it, just as Therese had done for her when she was sick, stroking her head softly as she tilted the brunette’s head back up. “Hey what’s the matter?” Therese asked seeing a sort of solemnity in the blonde.

“I feel stupid… For being so scared to tell you.” Carol said looking just beside Therese’s eye line.

“Look,” The brunette said shaking the blonde’s hips to look at her. “There is nothing to be scared about. Not anymore.” She reassured. She felt a steady kiss pressed to her lips, and if there wasn’t the possibility of little feet running in and exposing them, Therese would have pulled her down onto her lap, not having to worry if the act was too intimate.

“Flung out of space.” The blonde found herself saying, brushing Therese’s lower lip with her thumb before doing the same with the upper lip.

Carol left reluctantly to put the clothes in the dryer while Therese changed. The brunette spotted a hastily packed bag near the end of the bed. She was caught staring at it as Carol walked back in. Slowly Therese approached the bag, picking it up in the clothes that swam on her. “Can I take this back with me tonight?”

Carol released the breath she was holding, but it wasn’t long until she felt it trap in her chest again. “You’re going back?”

“Well-“

“Therese!” Rindy ran through the door, out of breath, hands covered in crumbs. “Bread… men… cut… on the table… Mommy, the soup… burning.”

“Ok, Rindy sweetheart we will be ri- Wait did you say the soup was burning?!” Carol ran out of the room creating a rush of wind behind her which made both Therese and Rindy chuckle.

When Rindy regained her breath she turned to the brunette. “You’re wearing my Ma’s clothes.”

“I am…” Therese said after looking up and down her body at the plaid shirt and matching shorts.

“You look smaller in them.” It was true, the sleeves had to be rolled up a few times and the bottom of the shorts was barely visible under the shirt.

“Well she does have an inch or two on me.”

“Try three or four Angel!” Therese gasped in mock horror from the blonde’s shout from the kitchen. “C’mon you two I’m going to dish up!”

“Mommy’s taller than most people, don’t worry.” Rindy shrugged trying to make Therese feel better, they began to walk to the kitchen-dining room.

“You think you’re going to be as tall as her one day?” Therese asked placing a hand on the top of Rindy’s head.

“Definitely!” She replied tilting her head back into Therese’s hand to beam up at her giggling.

“I think so too.”

///

 

“So what were you two talking about on the way here?” Carol eyed them as they sat eating on the round table, a pile human shaped toast lying in the centre.

Rindy inconspicuously picked up her glass of water to refrain from asking leaving Therese to answer. “Ah, that’s a secret.”

“Secrets from me already? It’s barely been 20 minutes.”

“What can I say? Even if we told you I doubt you would hear all the way up in the clouds. How is the weather up there, bab- I mean, Carol?” Therese nearly let the term of endearment slip, and the fact that she did made Carol chuckle slightly, keeping it in so it was only evident by the slight jump of her shoulders.

“Ha. Ha. Just fine thank you.” She said monotonously.

They settled back into their eating, Rindy talking about school until Therese reached for her first piece of toast. “So these must be the mysterious bread men.” She said holding him by the leg, looking it up and down. “Ok, I give up. How do you make them?”

Rindy ran from the table to the kitchen. “She doesn’t walk anywhere, you’ll see.” The blonde whispered making the brunette giggle a little, but she made sure to look very serious by the time Rindy got back.

“A cookie cutter, I should have known.” She said as the blonde placed the metal appliance in her hand. “But what happened to this one?” Therese asked spotting a headless bread man, picking him up from the pile.

Rindy shrugged not so innocently. “He had a headache, so I thought I would help him!”

Therese raised an eyebrow. “A headache? Well this is a very efficient solution Doctor Rindy.”

“I don’t know Therese,” Carol chimed in. “I’m pretty sure he’s complaining about his leg being sore. We may need to amputate.”

Therese dropped her cutlery, becoming very serious. “Don’t worry Doctor Aird I’m on it!” Carefully, Therese dipped the ‘sore’ leg into her soup before chopping it off in one swift bite, making the girl giggle at the absurdity.

“Oh no! I think his arms have stopped working!” Rindy said, jumping into her imagination, bringing her mother and Therese with her.                                                                      

“Quick you guys!” Therese said with urgency, dipping each arm in her soup before holding the man out to the two of them, watching the mother and daughter dive for him, each taking an arm with them. “I think we should put him out of his misery, don’t you think?” Therese chuckled holding up the lonesome torso, but surprisingly felt teeth lightly brush her knuckle as Therese bit the bodice right from her hand.

“Snooze you lose.” The blonde said chewing as Therese held up the remaining piece.

“Oh, I see, you’ve left me with the bottom.” The brunette rolled her eyes at the pair who seemed to be in cahoots.

“You’ve got to eat it Therese!” Rindy urged, innocently enough but it was the devilish stare from Carol that got under her skin.

 Therese threw the piece into her mouth skilfully, trying to scuttle away from the eyes burning into her neck. “Looks like you’ve had practice.” Carol commented, earning herself a poke in the ribs and an innocent laugh from her daughter.

 

///

 

“She’s asleep.” Carol said walking into the living room, accepting a glass of wine from the brunette. She sat down on the couch and Therese laid her head in her lap. “You never told me you were good with children.” Carol said after a few moments, stroking the brunette’s head. It was quiet moments like these that were a world of difference.

“I grew up with a lot of them…” Therese whispered even though there was no one to hear.

“That’s right…” Carol had only scratch the surface of Therese Belivet. It made her wonder if she could fall even further in love than she already was. She leant down slowly, kissing the brunette who shifted quickly, straddling the blonde to reconnect their lips in a more comfortable way.

They pulled apart slowly, Carol’s hands splayed across Therese’s back under her shirt. “I want… I want to ask you things.” Therese panted, centimetres from Carol’s lips.

“Ask me things… Please.” Lips attacked her jaw and Carol subconsciously felt her hands bunch in the tartan, pulling it up and off the brunette with ease, dragging her closer until Therese pulled back, stepping onto her feet once more and taking Carol’s trousers and pants with her.

They swung together as Carol lowered them onto the couch, lifting to kiss Therese’s lips as they made their descent, her hands rustling through the brown strands which fell in waves around them. Therese could feel Carol’s palm grazing down her stomach, but she wanted to feel the blonde too, mirroring her actions.

Suddenly, just inside the waistband of Therese’s shorts Carol stopped. “This is it, Therese.” She whispered, pushing her head back into the pillow a little to find the green that hovered above her. “After this I won’t be able to let you go.” She raised her free hand to catch a tear that was beginning to roll down the brunette’s cheek looking into each eye longingly.

Therese sat up abruptly, making the intimate space that once lingered, disappear in an instant. She paused for a moment. “So if I left right now… you’re saying you would be _ok_?” Therese said running a hand through her hair (a trait she had picked up from the blonde), her eyes now with a different fire engulfing them, one Carol hadn’t seen before.

“ _Are_ you leaving?” Carol asked, sitting up slightly, her efforts to read the brunette were futile.

Therese was standing now, and Carol couldn’t quite believe how quickly their day had been spiralling as the brunette pointed to her. “Tell me that what you just said isn’t true…” Carol stood there in shock. She was getting whiplash. “Answer the question!” Therese broke. “... T-Tell me you wouldn’t just let me leave.”

They stood in silence as Carol blinked, trying to process just what the hell was going on inside herself. But she had no time to listen to her head or her heart in the end as Therese made her way to the door.

But with each footstep the brunette took, Carol flew two, grabbing the brunette, bringing them to a halt against the door. “Therese!” She found herself say, and her hands gripping onto the brunette’s wrists, pinning her still, her heartrate racing. “I can’t.” She said looking down at herself and how she had trapped the woman in. “I can’t let you leave, I can’t let you go…” She said, loosening her grip, placing her hands either side of Therese instead.

She regained her breath, looking at the floor, trying to control what had come over her but Therese’s voice pulled her back. “You know… this is how I felt when I picked up your letter.” Carol’s gaze snapped up. “I didn’t do this out of vengeance. Or out of pettiness. But to tell you what you need to know… Whatever makes you think _I_ could let _you_ go?”

Therese searched the blue orbs that darted around her face, trying to read them, it was as if she was deciding what to feel, what to do, how to speak. But it was like her body gave into instinct once more as Therese was lifted from her feet and carried swiftly to the bedroom, locking the door behind them.

Therese’s back hit the bed with a rush of wind quickly followed by the blonde. Her dominance reminiscent of their first night as she stripped the brunette bare, throwing off her own clothes in the process, not allowing Therese to get a word in edgeways.

She crawled them up the bed until Therese’s head hit the pillows, thrusting her body between the brunette’s legs hard, making her whimper at the contact. She thrusted her hips, her mound pressing into Therese’s not relenting as her teeth grazed down Therese’s neck and bit down on her shoulder.

Everything was heightened, the way Carol grabbed her tits, her mouth attacking them before moving lower. The bites on her thighs were larger, kisses on her stomach harder and hickeys darker as she moved between the brunette’s legs which she spread roughly.

Therese had to bite back as scream as Carol descended on her centre, diving straight for her clit, fingers only momentarily teasing at her centre before pushing their way in, pushing all the spots Carol knew were Therese’s weakness.

It was ravenous, like the blonde couldn’t help herself. A hand flung to the blonde hair but Carol removed it and pinned it to the bed, her intention clear as she quickened the pace of her tongue.

She felt a hand snake up her body to massage her breast, tongue and fingers never slowing the relentless rhythm which was pushing the brunette further and further until the blonde pulled her into her mouth hard, pushing her fingers to their furthest reaches, sparking an orgasm and letting it flow from her.

Therese panted, her body sweating and mind disorientated as she felt Carol withdraw, crawling up her body, her lips landing on marked areas, soothing them, loving them until she collapsed on the brunette’s chest.

This time when Therese brought a hand up to Carol’s messy hair she was not pushed away but rewarded with a sob, and then another and another. Therese had never seen Carol cry before. Not truly. She had seen a tear or two fall but never cry.

She was always so strong.

But it was times like these that Carol didn’t have to be strong. It was times like these when she could let down all her barriers because she was totally and utterly safe. And inexcusably accepted. And unconditionally loved.

It was all over. There was no need to worry, pry, wonder, and wish. She had happiness and it came with no price.

The only thing she had to give into was herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't leave me hanging. Come see me down below ;)


	14. Secure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW... Like the majority of this fic. 
> 
> Like seriously guys i don't even know why i give warnings anymore ;) Yet i will, because i'm British and it would be way to impolite not to give forewarning (Positive stereotypes!)

“Don’t stop! Fuck!” Therese cursed, clawing at the leg that wrapped round one of hers urging the blonde to grind up into her harder. They were trying something new and so far, everything was going swimmingly.

“Therese, tell me you’re close.” Carol panted not sure how much longer she could go for, her back was slick with sweat against the sheets and her curls were beginning to stick to her skin. She grasped one of Therese’s breasts pinching the nipple as her walls began twitching.

The brunette opened her mouth to say just how close she was but her orgasm sprung up on her and she pulled the blonde up for an open mouthed kiss as her body contracted, jerking her hips against Carol’s which triggered her orgasm too.

Three deep thrusts later the brunette collapsed on the blonde, tired from their hour of spontaneity. Carol thought the sex may dial back a little when they entered a relationship, but to her enjoyment it didn’t. If anything it had become even more passionate.

The phone rang out and the brunette clutched Carol tighter. “Please don’t move.” She begged knowing she was still sensitive but Carol knew that was Harge’s ringtone.

“I’m sorry Angel, I have to get it.” She moved her aching muscles hearing Therese whimper beneath her as she snatched it off the bedside table, but silenced this whimpers with a resounding kiss before sitting up in front of the brunette, answering the phone. “Harge?” She answered as the green eyes looked upon her sinfully.

“Carol, are you busy right now? Because I need you to do me a favour.” Carol looked down at the brunette who was now attacking her breasts with kisses and her nipples with teases.

“Quite busy. But, Harge it’s nearly 7 O’clock, shouldn’t you be in Rindy’s recital?” She asked tilting her head back and closing her eyes as Therese caressed her back hands travelling sound to take handfuls of her ass and playfully pull her closer.

“That’s what I’m calling about. I’m flying to Vienna Carol. I can’t attend. I’ve booked two seats for my mother and I, but she refuses to go without me.”

“You’re flying to Vienna?! Harge, you know how excited she is for this, I don’t want her looking out into the audience and seeing no one.” Carol said changing ears on the phone, taking Therese’s chin in her free hand.

“Don’t you think I know that?!” He snapped. “Well it’s too late now. Would you-“

“Yes, what are the numbers?” Carol sighed, making a mental note of them. “Ok, I have to get going. Bye.” She put the phone down before he could answer. “I’m sorry Angel but Rindy has a recital tonight and Harge is no longer going and I couldn’t bare it if she knew no one was out there for her.”

“Don’t apologise, I don’t want her looking out and seeing no one.” Therese conceded as Carol climbed from her lap, hurrying to the bathroom only to stop when she heard the brunette say “Can I come?” Carol turned in the doorway. “I can buy a ticket. Unless you don’t want me to go? I’ll understand.” She said a little nervously as Carol hadn’t shown any reaction yet.

Carol’s shock turned into a smile. “You really want to come?” She beamed.

“Yes, of course.” Therese said standing from the end of the bed. “Plus I could bring one of my cameras. You’ll have the best home video there, guaranteed.”

Therese didn’t have long to prepare as Carol ran and jumped on her bringing them both down onto the bed. “I love you!” She grinned before peppering Therese’s face in kisses. “Iloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyou!”

“Ok! Ok, we’re going to be late, didn’t you say it started around seven?” She said managing to stop the blonde’s bombardment.

“Yes!”

 

///

 

“Sorry, excuse me. Sorry.” Therese said weaving through the crowd until she found her seat. She was happy to be on the end of an aisle so she could set up her camera with room.

“I can’t believe you brought that thing.” Carol said sitting watching Therese fill the camera with film, adjusting the lens.

“Only the best would do. Like I promised. You’re going to have the best home video.” She winked.

“People are going to think I hired a professional.” Carol said looking around at the judging parents who were looking at their equipment in dismay before looking to Therese’s with envy.

“Well technically I _am_ a professional. And you didn’t hire me. I’m your girlfriend. She’s the cutest thing alive. Kill me if I wanted high quality footage. Although if you really felt the need to pay me for my services…” Therese said leaning over kissing Carol on the neck, where she had left a very suspicious bruise a while earlier not caring about the gossiping whispers. “I’m sure we could figure out payment in some other way.”

“It’s starting.” They heard someone else whisper, so Therese sat, pressed record and then laced her fingers with Carol’s.

The curtain went up and the lights went down as a line of girls dressed as swans adorned the stage, the awes of parents filled the audience. It was a mini ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and Rindy was the Prince. Therese and Carol watched and waited for Rindy to appear, and when she did, they both clasped each other’s hands a little tighter as she began a duet with Aurora.

Her little red cape flowed behind her as they jumped and twirled around the stage. Rindy had been practicing for so long, even getting Therese to be her Aurora and the brunette couldn’t help but sway along. When Harge had said he had already booked tickets for himself and his mother, Carol knew she couldn’t attend. His mother loathed her and she didn’t want to ruin Rindy’s night by causing a scene.  But now as she sat here, she was glad Harge was ignorant enough to fly off.

Aurora leapt and unfortunately her tiara came off, but Rindy picked it up while skipping and handed it back, but it was mistakes like these that made children’s ballets. Carol had to clasp her hand over her mouth when the fake owl fell out the tree, and again when the girl playing the tree couldn’t bend the right way to try and pick it up.

It wasn’t long before lots of girls that were once woodland creatures ran on in black leotards to make a bushel of thorns which Rindy par de chat through, to get to the princess, giving her a kiss on the cheek to wake her before it ended in a celebratory group dance.

There was a ruckus of applause, Therese and Carol stood, waving their arms so that Rindy might spot them. When the lights went up Carol made effort in trying to fix her mascara, and they embraced for a little longer than usual.

The best moment came when Rindy was let out back stage and flew into the arms of both Carol and Therese, jumping up and down, giddy that both of them came to see her. “Therese you came to my show!”

“Of course I did! When Carol told me about it I just had to come! I got it all on camera, you were amazing. All that practice was worth it.”

“Did you see the bit with the tiara?” Therese looked to Carol questioningly, shaking her head. “It fell off.”

“Did it? I didn’t even notice!” The little girl beamed. “But what I did notice is that you had those par de chat’s nailed and I never saw one moment where your feet weren’t pointed.”

“Neither did I. Oh sweetheart you were amazing. I’m so proud!” Carol said scooping her up, making her way over to her car agreeing to cook turkey dinosaurs and smiley potato faces when they got in.

“Where’s Daddy and Nana? He didn’t come and see me after.” Rindy asked as she sat in the back, looking over the footage Therese had sent to her phone.

“He errm…” Carol delayed. “He couldn’t make it sweetheart, which is why Therese and I came.” She said pulling into the traffic, looking in her rear mirror to her daughter.

“But he dropped me off at the stage door.” Rindy said, you could hear the confusion in her voice.

Therese couldn’t bare it. He had more or less abandoned her at her recital. “You know, we could make a couple copies of that. That way you and your daddy can have one. So can Carol and I. You could even give a copy to your Nana, that way it would be like they were right there. Is that ok?” She offered, turning in her seat to see her reaction.

A satisfied smile graced her face. “That sounds like a good idea.” She said simply before looking back down to Therese’s phone to watch on. Therese turned back around in her seat to feel the blonde lace their fingers together on her thigh. “Look, Danielle dropped her owl!”

 

///

 

“Hi, Therese Belivet, Carol Aird called ahead, I’m here to pick up Rindy?” Therese said jogging into the school. Carol had sent her a text apologising profusely but asking if she could pick Rindy up from school. Therese easily obliged knowing Carol wouldn’t ask unless she really couldn’t get out of work which is how she found herself running into the gates at the end of the school day.

“Oh yes, Miss Aird called ahead. Rindy?” The small blonde left her friends, holding her back pack straps only to spot Therese and run towards her at warp speed.

“Therese! What are you doing here?!” She asked, wrapping her arms around the brunette.

“Well, I thought I would pick you up from school today. Your mom is still a little caught up with work, and I thought you we could take a walk there? Meet her?”

“Go to mommy’s work? Sure! Bye Mrs Robichek!” Therese also waved goodbye feeling the blonde’s hand slip into her own as they left, out of habit. It was strange, to have this kind of responsibility- not bad, but oddly warming.

They walked down the pavement, one step after the other, talking about their days when out of the blue the blonde asked. “Therese, what’s a lesbian?”

The brunette blinked, not believing she had heard quite right. “A what?”

“A lesbian.” Rindy said again. There was the word as clear as day. “Tara said that her mom said that you and mommy were lesbians.” Out of the mouth of babes, quite literally.

“Err- I …” Therese wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. She and Carol had been talking for some time about sitting down with Rindy and expressing exactly what they were since it had been a few months now and didn’t want to dishonest with Rindy, especially since they had started holding hands, sharing the occasional kiss in her presence and she had been staying over more and more frequently. “Well…” Therese said trying to gauge how she should approach this. “Did she say anything else?”

“She said that it was weird and unnatural.” There was a brief pause as Therese tried to think of what Carol would say. “So… what are they?” Rindy prodded.

“Well… A lesbian is…” She was having trouble finding words, not only because she had expected Carol to be by her side when answering these questions but because no one had really had a problem with her being with a woman before. She had no family to speak of and her friends had been more intrigued than anything else. She hadn’t even expected homophobia honestly. “You know how Princess Aurora loved the Prince?” Rindy nodded. “Well, it’s like that but instead of Princess Aurora loving the Prince she loves another Princess.” Rindy peered up at her through her long blonde eyelashes waiting for Therese to carry on. “A lesbian is a woman who loves other women.”

“So you and mommy are lesbians?” Rindy concluded looking at the road they were about to cross. “Because you love mommy like Princes and Princesses do.”

“Yes, I do.” Therese said smiling, hoping she was doing everything Carol wished she was.

“But you guys aren’t weird.” _Ah, that part!_ Therese picked up two juice boxes from a stand as she mulled over her next answer, passing the young girl one.

“I know. Some people think that people who are gay – women who love women or men who love men – are weird, because they don’t understand how two people could love each other as much as Princes and Princesses do. But they aren’t weird, we are normal like everyone else.”

“Because you and Mommy are lesbians, does that mean I’m a lesbian?” Therese choked on her juice at the question. “Oliver’s French because his dad is French.”

“No, it doesn’t work like that.” Therese said chuckling as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “You get to _choose_ whoever you would like to love, a boy or a girl. It doesn’t matter. I like girls, I like your mommy. But your dad, he also likes girls. Do you see what I mean?”

“Does that make daddy a lesbian?”

“Look at you! You have so many questions today!” She beamed, quite humoured by the image of Rindy asking Harge if he was a Lesbian. “We’re here. Shall we go inside and see if your mom’s done?”

They made their way inside up to Carol’s floor catching her finishing up just as they walked in. Rindy was wrapped in a tight embrace while the blonde kissed her lover chastely. They greeted each other happily before Rindy was distracted by the fish tank.

“Babe.” Therese whispered drawing the blonde closer. “We need to have _the talk_ with Rindy _tonight_.”

“How so?” Carol asked looking quite surprised.

“She just asked me what a lesbian was and I made such a hash of it she thinks Harge is one too!” Carol burst into laughter pulling the scarred brunette in for a hug kissing her on the head.

“Then you couldn’t have done a better job!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers, I invite you all to tell me some preferably quirky stories about trying to explain to people either your sexuality or somebody elses to kids or maybe people in general. Or perhaps a person's gender or how they identify. 
> 
> And obviously after you've done that maybe leave me a side note because comments do make the heart grow fonder ;)


	15. ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's put some curiousity at ease shall we?

Therese followed the dim light until she reached the cupboard which stored the towels, sheets and boxes of toys. “You can’t _still_ be stressing?” Therese said, making the blonde jump a little as she turned to the woman leaning on the door frame.

Carol shrugged, putting down the warm towel. Rindy was away for the evening for a friend’s Halloween sleepover. She had gone as a robot ballerina to Carol’s surprise and frustration when she couldn’t find a suitable costume but Therese pulled a few strings with an artist she knew and had a Tutu sprayed metallic silver and wires and rounded shards of circuit board to be weaved into it.

Rindy had been ecstatic to put it on, especially when her mother allowed her to have a little glitter on her cheeks and trainers. However there was still the worry of scary movies. Rindy hated scary movies, as was evident from their movie night a couple months ago when she had curled up in between Therese and Carol.  “I don’t know, it’s just been one of those kind of days.” She leant against the side.

Therese neared, picking up the towel to put it away. “So you’re folding in our airing cupboard.”

“It calms me.” She replied, her eyes never leaving the brunette.

Therese returned her gaze, walking towards her slowly, resting her hands either side of the blonde, effectively closing her in. “I thought that was my job.” She leant in capturing Carol’s lips with her own softly, letting them go with reluctance, pulling back for the blonde’s response.

“You’re very good at it.” She smiled, nuzzling Therese’s lips towards her once more before reconnecting their lips. Their breathing deepened as they drew each other further into the kiss. Therese’s hands moved from the side to Carols waist, massaging it as they pressed together harder.

Carol’s foot reached behind the brunette kicking the door closed as she knew where this was heading, or where she hoped it would. As her hands returned to the brunette, she felt fingers tug at her jean zipper, popping the button.

Therese slipped her hands down the back of Carol’s jeans, massaging handfuls of her ass before she gasped, breaking their kiss. “Wait!”

“What?!” Carol asked alarmed.

“I can’t believe I’ve never asked before.”

“Asked what?” Carol noted the palms still clenching her ass. “If you’re about to say what I think you’re going to, then know I have never done it and I didn’t expect the first time to be in an airing cupboard.“

Therese chuckled a little bit, kissing Carol’s confused face. “No, not that – I can’t believe I’ve never asked you why.”

The blonde held her hands up in defeat. “Ok, I’m really lost here.”

Therese bit her lip. “Why did you come and see me on New Years?”

“Oh you want to have _that_ conversation.” Carol said trying to wriggle free of the brunette’s hold but Therese kept her caged.

“Yes I want to have _that_ conversation.”

Carol kissed her again, grinding into the hands that palmed her. “Can we not just…” She trailed off kissing down the brunette’s neck.

“Nuh uh uh, I want to know. C’mon, give me a bedtime story.”

Carol sighed. “After the bed time story will you let me rip off your clothes?” She said, lowering her voice, a technique which proved well with practice, as she saw the brunette’s pupils dilate.

“I’ll up you one. I’ll rip off yours.” Therese said, almost a promise to her own desires.

Carol could tell she wasn’t going to win this battle. “Fine. Well… I guess … I don’t even know what I was thinking Therese it was so long ago.”

“Bullshit. C’mon Carol. It’s been 10 months. Tell me.” She urged, looking through the curtain of blonde curls which Carol had been keeping in natural big ringlets more and more since that day she fell ill and Therese told her she liked them.

“It really isn’t as interesting as you would think.” Carol tried but Therese didn’t relent with her probing gaze. “Well you know how after the divorce I would frequent gay bars with Abby before she met Alicia?”

“Yes, go on.” She said ready to get to her part of the story.

“Well, I was… picky, let’s say. I would sit in the corner of the bar and… _scope_.”

“Scope? And no women would approach this?” She said parting their bodies a little to look down the blonde’s before pressing them back together again. “I find that hard to believe.” Therese knew that Carol was beautiful. She would often catch others admiring her, checking her out, which was always followed by Therese sliding her hand in Carol’s back pocket, or kissing her possessively, or just a smug smile knowing the blonde was hers.

“Oh they would. But I only slept with two women. The bartender, and Abby. Well because I was so aloof people would ask about me a lot. The bartender, proud of her conquest or something,” There was a small pause for a dramatic eye roll. “She would dish and there began the Chinese whispers.”

Therese laughed. “You were some lesbian myth?”

“You could say that - can I stop now?” She pleaded as Therese continued to cackle into her shoulder but she removed one hand from inside the blonde’s jeans to wipe a tear, bringing herself back to the conversation as her hand slipped back into the tight material. “Ok, well rumours circulated. And after I had a brief and stupid relationship with Abby well then it lit like wildfire. People would ask her questions about me, try and get her to spread more gossip. It was like being on the field in high school.”

“Then…” She said with a squeeze of her bum.

“Obviously Abby met Alicia. She had heard some rumours and when I had met her once or twice through Abby she seemed rather nice, we got on ok. Obviously Abby and Alicia broke up and she’s with Gen now. By this time I was done with bars, the fireplace and wine suited me just fine, I only really went for Abby.”

Having her face so close to Carol’s cleavage was torture. “Get to it…”

“So I get this text from Abby, prodding me to get out more, I hadn’t been out with her in a while. She kept calling me prudish. And then a few days later I get another text. How about a one night stand? Get it out of my system.”

“Me?”

“You.” She clarified. “So anyway, a one night stand was the last thing on my mind, but then came the attachment of the most perfect looking girl on the planet who apparently had never orgasmed during sex before.” She said wiggling her eyebrows, knowing she Therese had had many orgasms under Carol. Or above her. Or to the side.

“Ok! Ok, stop tooting your own horn.”

“Anyway, I looked and stared for longer than I care to admit, and I though _Wow, I never looked like that_ myself, or at anyone else. I found myself saying yes. Who dare not treasure this gorgeous brunette with big telling eyes and dimples deeper than the marina trench?”

She said that watching those very same dimples smiling back at her. “Weren’t you nervous?”

“Shitting myself.” Therese burst into laughter. “I’m serious, I was stood outside the door, nervously listening to your conversation, chastising myself for being so stupid, but then I heard how nervous you were, how you had been researching what to do, lesbian etiquette if you will… I couldn’t resist. And then you opened the door, and it was like a surge of confidence.” She cupped the brunette’s face in her hands. “I never looked back.”

“And when I asked if we could do this again?” Therese asked, looking up through her lashes, blinking with big green eyes.

Carol thought momentarily. “Well I had Rindy and wasn’t ready for a committed relationship I guess, didn’t want to risk getting hurt. But you were just so… you…” There was no other way to describe it. Carol was thankful that Therese was wearing a button up as it allowed her fingers to undo them slowly, their eyes never wandering. “The way your eyes would flutter shut when teased your nipples.” She said leaning forward and inhaling one into her mouth. “Or the way you whimper when I bite down just here.” Therese whimpered as Carol bit down on her jugular. Her hand now started to graze down the brunette’s stomach. “Or how you would tremble slightly-“

“Stop talking.” The brunette said ripping off their clothes.

“But didn’t you want to listen to me ramble on about why I decided to ride out this crazy adventure with you?” Carol chuckled as Therese ridded the last of their clothing.

“By all means tell me to stop and you may carry on.” She said descending the blonde’s body, pushing her back against the door and spreading her legs roughly. Carol tried to make some snarky reply but she couldn’t as the brunette latched her mouth onto her clit, sucking it hard into her mouth.

She saw green eyes connect with hers challenging her, and she caved moaning as she tilted her head back, weaving her fingers into the brown lock before grinding her hips on her heavenly tongue. “Don’t stop.”

 

///

 

“Can you believe it’s been a year already?” Carol asked Therese as they lay naked on the couch, the sheets from bed draped over their entwined bodies as the blonde lazily played with Therese’s hair.

“I know, it’s our anniversary tomorrow.” Therese said watching the TV listening to her lover’s heartbeat. “You haven’t forgotten have you?” She said into the blonde’s chest feeling it vibrate as she chuckled.

“No, how could I? I have the best present.” Carol said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“I don’t know. Mines pretty good, so good in fact that we are going to have to leave soon.” Therese said sitting up, pulling the sheet around her leaving Carol bare on the couch.

“Oh don’t say you planned it at midnight?” She groaned.

Therese froze. “Don’t tell me yours is at midnight too?”

Carol stood following Therese to their bedroom. “We’re going to have to do them at the same time. Where are we going?” She asked, trying to pry information out of her while doing the same to the sheet she held around her body.

“So yours is portable hmmm?” Therese deduced keeping a tight hand in the sheets.

“So yours isn’t?” Carol chided using the sheet to pull her in close so that their bodies aligned.

Their lips hung dangerously closely. “Ok… we’ll play this game. Be ready to go in 10.” She said, leaning up onto the ball of feet to kiss her gently before sauntering into their bathroom.

 

///

 

“Your gallery?” Carol asked as Therese let them in through the back, climbing the floors until they reached the door of Therese’s.

“Ok, it’s 11:56.” She said looking at her phone. “Are you ready to get totally whooped at anniversary gifts?”

“No because I’ve totally won this.” Carol said smugly putting her hands in her pockets.

“I beg to differ. Here.” Therese dropped the keys to the room in Carol’s hand. The blonde turned to unlock it, feeling the brunette slip in behind her. She pushed back her hips hearing an unexpected gasp being released, happy with that small win. She opened the door. The room was pitch black, and a small light only came from Therese’s office in the corner. “You ready?” Carol heard her love say from a distance away.

“Always.” The neon tubes flickered on in yellows reds and greens, dancing along the ceiling of the gallery, illuminating a picnic blanket with champagne and an assortment of foods. But the real gift was the photos that hung from the ceiling in black and white. “Oh my god, Therese.” Carol whispered bringing a hand up to her mouth as she placed one foot in front of the other.

All the photos that hung were of Carol, Therese and Rindy. Rindy playing with her trainset, Carol wrapped up in the sheets, her blonde locks fanned out across the mattress. Pictures of them at the lake, Therese screaming as she jumped off the cliff. Carol making stir fry the day after she was ill. Lots of the photos were erotic and private but in intimate settings only made for the eyes of Therese and Carol they were beautiful, a look into their life. The day Therese moved in. Pictures of them dancing at the wedding, in the corner the dead bouquet Carol caught was staged. Therese’s old apartment key hung from the ceiling along with a few of their favourite recipes.

It was the past year, hung in stills and objects around them, the picnic settled in the middle.

“How did you…?” Carol said, her eyes glistening in the neon light.

“Well I only fell off the ladder once. I got the images printed here in the gallery. And you know, I like to keep mementos. This was the receipt for our first ever meal out.” Therese said flicking the dangling paper before something else caught her eye. “This is the stub from the museum. Our first place in public to christen.” Carol laughed through the tears that were forming. “The first film we took Rindy to see.” She said pointing to the ripped tickets. “The bouquet you caught the day we said ‘I love you’.”

“You kept all of it…” Carol said turning on the spot, her eye line meeting herself in the hanging photos, dowsed in greens reds and yellows.

“Of course I did. It’s you.” Therese said, embracing the blonde from behind, resting her chin in the crook of her neck before placing a gentle kiss there. “Still think you can beat me?” She smiled, the imprint felt on the blonde’s neck.

Carol took a step forward to turn and rest her head upon her girlfriend’s whose dimples did nothing but deepen, proud of her efforts and the tears that rolled down Carol’s cheeks. “Well, it depends on you really.” She sniffed, reaching into her pocket, feeling nostalgic as the bouquet was in her line of vision.

“How so?” She asked watching her love take another step back. It only started to click together when Carol got down on one knee, the light illuminating the black velvet box that she had been fiddling with in her pocket for so long. “Carol…”

“Therese. My angel, flung out of space.” She held out the box flipping it open to produce a ring and in the lid a question mark perfectly formed with Swarovski crystals. Therese looked at the question mark whose curves brought attention to the ring below. “I love you.” Carol said, her hands beginning to shake as Fireworks began sounding.

“When? Where? What?”

“Whenever you want. Wherever you are and hopefully you becoming mine until the day I die.” Therese’s hand clasped over her mouth at the answer. But Carol was becoming fidgety on the floor. “So… Question mark…” She prodded her heart almost beating out of her chest which she stifled with nervous laughter.

Before she received an answer she received Therese’s hurtling body in her arms pushing them both down onto the blanket. “Yes.” She breathed, kissing her fiancée, although the feat was tough because they were both smiling and crying too much to keep contact. “Yes.”

The brunette leant up so she could see her lover. Carol traced a dark lock behind Therese’s ear. She sighed, watching the green so intensely that the look seemed to pass straight through Therese and pierce a place where she could do nothing but feel everything. “Aren’t you glad I asked you to leave off the sex part?” She asked breaking into smile as she slipped the ring on the brunette’s finger.

“Well, that depends.” Therese beamed, unable to keep the smile from her face as she looked up from the ring.

“On what?” Carol said smiling right back, knowing the exact words that were going to fall from the brunette’s mouth.

“On what you do next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you managed to make it to the end of this fic, Congratulations ;)
> 
> Honestly it was a really lovely and smooth write. It flowed from me effortlessly and it was a pleasure to share it with you all. I hope to see you in the comment section or perhaps on other Fics.
> 
> 5c x


End file.
